The other day, information spread across the country: the commune in Iasi is going bankrupt, the mayor announces that all the property of the town hall will be put up for auction. HotNews investigated the financial condition of the settlements in Romania, and the situation of most of them is catastrophic.

Godianu, Mehedyntsi: monthly income no more than 10,000 euros. Costs are more than 6 times

The poorest settlement in the country is Mehedyntsi, a settlement with approximately 500 inhabitants: Godyanu. The monthly incomes of the 4 villages that make it up do not exceed the incomes of a family of special pensioners: a little less than 10,000 euros per month. Instead, the costs are almost 6 times higher: about 65,000 euros per month (or 775,000 euros per year). Of these, more than 80,000 euros are social assistance payments provided by the City Hall. Office of the City Hall of Godyan consists of the mayor and 9 local councilors.

According to the website of the city hall of Godianu, the name of the village where Godianu lives comes from the words of local residents from Godin, an ancestor who was engaged in cattle breeding, beekeeping, and fruit growing. Shepherd Godin allegedly had 5 children named Godin, Dragomir, Mladin, Nikolaje and Gheorghe. Thus, their names are the most common surnames found in Godian: Godin, Dragomirescu, Mladin, Nicolaescu and Gerginescu. According to the elders, it turns out that Tudor Volodymyrescu had a tavern at the end of the village of Siroka. The area consists of 4 villages: Godyan, Marga, Shiroka and Peuneshta.

Stara, Hunedoara. Mayor: even through politics, there is a campaign against our culture, against our faith, against everything that means tradition

The second poorest settlement is the well-known Bătrâna (Hunedoara). According to the 2022 census, it has only 88 residents. The own income is at the same level as in Godian (a little less than 10,000 euros per month), only the expenses are half of those of Mehedin commune (300,000 euros per year), and the social assistance is about 20,000 euros per year).

from Report of the mayor of Batrana:„ The population was constantly decreasing, as in previous years. Unfortunately, there is a downward trend in the next period as well. Depopulation is a phenomenon that will have serious consequences for the development of our area. Reasons for depopulation: population aging, lLack of jobs in the area or nearby, lack of infrastructure in the area (lack of an access road to the center of the commune; lack of electricity in the nearby villages: Piatra, Rachitsaua and Fatsa-Roshi; lack of drinking water during periods of drought .)

In the radius of the commune of Batran, residents do not receive medical assistance, they are forced to move to the commune of Dobra, 30 km away, where there are medical centers.

At the level of the commune of Batran, starting in 2002, schools were closed due to a lack of students. In 2021, the city library functioned without a full-time librarian, limiting itself exclusively to what was necessary for its activities. The activity takes place in good conditions, in appropriate premises. At the moment, there are 2,490 volumes with an inventory value of 253.8 lei.

House of Culture: In late 2021, the House of Culture looks good from a physical point of view. Cultural activity did not keep up with the updates that were taking place. We all know the reasons. There are other temptations for young people and other categories of citizens in the city. We live in an era of handcuffs, an era of kitsch, well promoted through print media, through private television, through commerce, even through politics, there is a campaign against our culture, against our faith, against everything that means tradition and especially “Romanian”.

Bohdana and Arsura (Vaslui): income according to possibilities, expenses according to needs

Two settlements from Vaslui: Bohdan and Arsur are on the list of the poor. In the case of the first, own income is around €9,800 per month and total expenses are around €60,000 per month (or just over €700,000 per year if you round the numbers). Every year, 150,000 euros are spent on Bohdan’s social assistance. According to last year’s census, 1,313 people live in the town.

In Arsura (also Vaslui), own monthly income is 10,500 euros, and total expenses are almost a million euros per year. Last year’s census shows that 1,416 people live there, who annually receive social assistance from the city hall of more than 800,000 lei.

In 96% of Romanian municipalities, total expenses are higher than revenues. More precisely, out of 3,185 settlements, 3,059 are losing money, depending on what they receive from the budget.

Total revenues consist of own receipts, to which are added: sums broken down by VAT to finance decentralized expenditure at the district level, sums broken down by VAT to finance decentralized costs, sums broken down by VAT on roads, sums broken down by VAT to balance local budgets, Amounts in terms of VAT for financing the Program for the development of infrastructure and sports facilities in rural areas, Amounts in the breakdown of value added tax for financing accredited private or religious education, Subsidies, Amounts received from the EU/other donors on account of payments made and pre-financing, Amounts received from the EU/other donors on account of payments made and pre-financing related to the financial program for 2014-2020, Other receipts.

The largest surpluses are: the municipality of Tirgovishte, Sector 1 of the capital, Giroda, Dumbravica and Girok (the last 3 from Timișoara), Gešti and Titu (both from Dambovica) and Jarmata (Timși)

Under these conditions, the resumption of a serious discussion on the unification of small towns becomes extremely necessary

The discussion about administrative reorganization should be seriously put on the back burner, especially since almost 40 cities and the same number of municipalities I no longer date from a formal standpoint conditions for the so-called

There were previous intentions. Besescu talked about her since 2011, Viktor Ponta revived the idea in 2012but nothing was done.

The reform of local public administration, especially through the unification of UAPs, is important, adhering to the principle of their economic and fiscal viability, in order to reduce their use of state budget resources.

Read also: Territorial reorganization of Romania since 1918