The state Duma adopted in the second reading the draft law regulating the transformation of municipalities. This was reported on the website of the lower house of Parliament on Wednesday, March 15.
The document was supported subject to the amendments of the Deputy Mikhail Terentyev (“United Russia”), elected from the Moscow region. They allow you to merge with the urban districts of the settlement, contained in one municipal district. After the merger, such settlements will lose the status of the municipality.
“Many rural settlements are not self-sufficient, they are subsidized, they are waiting for subsidies. Themselves can not solve the problems neither with communication nor with the investment, investors do not come because no grounds,” — said, commenting on the document, first Deputy Chairman of the Duma Committee on Federal structure and local self-governance Irina Guseva (“United Russia”) .
In its opinion, the merger will allow the territories of different quality development. “Settlements, for example, cannot participate in Federal programs. And here you can, because the city has other budget, other possibilities,” — said Gusev. He added that it is possible to solve a number of problems that had grown, including in the suburbs — “by how much we can save on the officials.”
The government submitted the draft law to the Duma in April 2015. He suggests amending the law “On General principles of organization of local government in RF”. Under the changes, the decision to merge municipalities will be able to take their representative bodies without a referendum. It will “help to improve public administration at the local level and to reduce local spending on the vote,” reads the explanatory note.