4504 | 3 Nov. 2025 | 09:27

To preserve the municipalities' right to manage their own property in the water and wastewater services sector, i.e. to not be nationalized, is, in our opinion, unconstitutional, declared mayors insisting on the issue

The "water meter" fee topic overwhelmed the issue of nationalization of municipal companies, which is more important. Nationalization would lead to a 200% increase in prices for the service in some municipalities.

 This was stated by Donka Mihaylova, mayor of Troyan and vice-president of the National Association of Municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria, before the second reading of the Water and Sewage Act.

 "Today we are finalizing the texts that mayors of municipalities will submit to the chairman of the regional commission and the environmental commission in the National Assembly, as well as to the leaders of all parliamentary groups," she announced and pointed out the two most important proposals: 

 "To maintain the right of municipalities to manage their own property in the water and sewage service sector, i.e. not to be nationalized, which we consider unconstitutional for municipal companies." Second - mayors to have real participation in decision-making in the associations of water and wastewater companies.

 "We were heard in the leading committees of the National Assembly. The commitment that was made to us was that between the first and second readings, the deputies will hear our proposals again and consider their main points," she pointed out.

 In the show "Before All" Donka Mihaylova also commented on the topic of the budget for the next year.

 "We had difficult negotiations. We heard each other in them," she noted and clarified:

 "The most important thing we agreed on is for a reasonable growth in state delegated activities in the sphere of education, social services, culture, defense, and security. We also stressed that more funds are needed for healthcare. It is mainly about providing services in schools and kindergartens by healthcare specialists.

 We expect an objective increase in the investment program, in the administrative standard, and in some other activities, said the vice-chairman of the Union of Municipalities.

 "We do not have much optimism, considering the fact that Bulgarian municipalities provide 2/3 of the services received by citizens administratively. We have been assigned around 500 services according to certain normative acts. We hope that at least the process of assigning new services will stop without being financially provided," she hopes.

 Regarding the funds for waste management and the implementation of the "polluter pays" principle, Mihaylova expressed her opinion that reform is extremely necessary there. However, we are not yet ready for her, as in certain municipalities the garbage fee can be increased up to 7 times, she emphasized. According to her, this fair principle will be quite burdensome for the populated areas that are far from the landfills for solid household waste.

 We propose a phased introduction of this new model, according to which everyone should pay as much as waste they dispose of, from 2027 onwards, announced the mayor of Troyan. And she added:

 "This should be a smooth process for citizens, less painful and more tolerable for municipalities, because we are worried that we will not be able to collect the fee and there is a risk of accumulation of waste in populated areas for which we will not have the resources to clean up."

 The municipalities have also requested a significant increase for winter cleaning, which has not been done in 4 years.

 It is important for us to have order in payments and for them to happen quickly, so that businesses can operate smoothly and there are no unfinished construction sites, stated Mrs. Mikhailova.