At the sitting held on 4 October and chaired by Committee Chairman Jovan Palalic, the Local Self-Government Committee considered the Bill amending and modifying the Budget System Law.

The representatives of the Ministry of Finance briefly presented the Bill to the Committee, focusing on the articles of the Bill concerning local self-government. The fiscal rules apply to the general state level i.e. republican level and local self-government. Article 27 of the Bill introduces fiscal rules for local self-governments. The budget deficit is part of the consolidated deficit, and the local self-government deficit cannot be higher than 10% compared to the income for the year the budget refers to. Towns and municipalities are allowed to exceed this amount only in case of capital investments.

In the debate on the only item on the agenda, the Committee members wanted to know when the transfer funds for the 2009 amounts i.e. before the 50% reduction, would be returned to the local self-governments, what the grounds were for the deadlines proposed by the Bill for the local self-governments’ applications for loan consents to the Ministry of Finance, when the law on public property would be passed and whether the Ministry would define the upper limit for communal fees in local self-governments.