vlad.tribnet.com / Issue #149 / Special reports / Reading article...

The 1997 city budget, which is officially "secret," according to the mayor's press center, was only signed into law June 4.

But a reporter got a hold of the expenditure plans, which revealed that 38 billion rubles ($6.5 million) remain in the budget for the first half of 1997, despite Mayor Victor Cherepkov's repeated statements that the city coffers are empty.

The month-long trash strike began because Cherepkov owed garbage workers 13 billion rubles.

However, Cherepkov has plans for the money. He will spend 1.9 billion rubles on "mass media needs" and 114 billion rubles on city management. He has allocated 61 million rubles for the FSB (former KGB) offices here, while the traffic police and fire department say they have received no money. City hall has refused to comment on the budget.

Appendixes to the budget state that Cherepkov will finance capital repairs, education and health care ? all languishing under huge cuts ? but only if the krai administration provides funds. Cherepkov says the krai owes Vladivostok 3 trillion rubles. The total krai budget is 4 trillion rubles.

The city administration calculates it will raise 20 billion rubles from paid parking and 3 billion rubles from a new tax on the sale of second-hand cars.

The city prosecutor's office is investigating whether the budget violates a federal law regarding local self-management.