Brcko Supervisor Dr Raffi Gregorian today issued a Supervisory Order fining members of the Brcko District Government one month’s salary for their failure to adopt a draft budget for 2009 within the deadline set by the District Statute. He also instructed the Assembly to proceed with the budget adoption procedure notwithstanding the Government’s failure to adopt the budget within the deadline, and extended the period for adoption of the budget by the Brcko District Assembly until December 31, 2008.
The Supervisor is surprised and disappointed that the Government, in spite of its promises and consultations with the Supervisor’s Office since January of this year, failed to carry out one of its fundamental tasks, which is the timely adoption of the budget in line with the Statute, which is necessary for the Assembly to begin deliberations and adoption of the budget by December 1, as required by the Statute.
“As a result of the Government’s irresponsible action the current Assembly was prevented from acting during its regular mandate, while the new Assembly has been placed in an intolerable situation whereby the entire budget adoption process will have to be completed within two weeks of being constituted. Failure to adopt the budget in a timely fashion could call into question the financial stability of the District, which I cannot allow,” said Supervisor Gregorian.
Supervisor Gregorian finds it unacceptable that members of the Government cause harm to the residents of the District by violating the Statute and the law. He insists that the rule of law be upheld in the District. Therefore, he decided they should be penalized for their irresponsible and illegal actions. Members of the Government will receive no salary for the month of September.
In order to prevent any threat to the District’s financial security, the Supervisor has instructed the Assembly’s Budget Committeeto proceed with the budget procedure under its technical mandate, and create conditions for the new Assembly to commence discussions on the budget as soon as it is constituted. He also extended the period for adoption of the District budget by the Brcko District Assembly to December 31, 2008 as to provide a realistic time frame for adoption.
The amount equaling the sum of all the suspended salaries will be transferred to the Department of Health, Subdivision for Social Protection, for purchase of equipment for the Brcko day care centre for children and persons with special needs which is currently being constructed.