General Council greenlights Bucharest referendum on city halls’ budgets, urban planning

The General Council of Bucharest approved in its meeting on Monday, October 21, the organization of a local referendum on November 24, simultaneously with the first round of the presidential elections. The referendum, which would bring changes to how the city's budget is split between the general and district city halls and how the building permits are issued, was proposed by mayor Nicuşor Dan and includes three questions instead of two as initially announced.

“The local referendum will have the two questions that I proposed. One refers to the division of the money collected from the fees and taxes of the citizens of Bucharest between the General City Hall and the District City Halls because, for years, there has been a discrepancy between our attributions and the money we receive, distributed by the government from these fees and taxes, and the attributions of the districts and the money they receive,” mayor Dan said after the General Council’s vote.

“The second question refers to the possibility of the mayor of Bucharest issuing building permits for the entire city, as is the case in all European capitals. The traffic in Bucharest, which is the main problem of its residents, comes from the way in which this city has developed urbanistically, uncontrolled, and then if the general mayor is responsible for traffic, it is normal that they are also responsible for how construction is done in the city,” he added.

There will also be a third question on the ballot, this time proposed by the Social Democrat (PSD) general councilors and approved on Monday. This question targets the fight against drug trafficking in Bucharest.

“The PSD general councilors proposed a third question that was voted on by the other political parties, related to the establishment by the Capital City Hall of a structure to deal with the drug problem in Bucharest,” mayor Nicuşor Dan explained.

Thus, the three questions on the referendum ballot, as reported by Digi24, will be:

• Do you agree that the distribution of income taxes and local taxes collected from Bucharest residents between the Bucharest City Hall and the District City Halls should be approved by the General Council of the Municipality of Bucharest?
• Do you agree that the general mayor of Bucharest should issue building permits for the entire administrative territory of the city?