vlad.tribnet.com / Issue #162 / Business / Reading article...

The Primorsky Krai Duma again delayed passge of a 1998 budget, and will continue spending small chunks from regional coffers to pay its expenses.

The Duma said in its Feb. 25 session that it is unable to draft a budget because leaders here did not know how much financial help to expect from Moscow. The federal government drafted its 1998 budget on March 4.

The Krai Duma will, however, try to agree on a budget in its March 24 session, the Duma’s press center announced on March 3.

In the meantime, the Duma agreed to spend one-twelfth of last year’s budget for every month of the first quarter. This money will go to protected items on the budget like teacher and doctor salaries.

And though current figures indicate the krai is getting less money this year than it did in 1997, the Duma voted to pay 500 million new rubles ($83 million) in social security payments in the next year. The item was not included in last year’s budget.

Deputies also debated how to pay arrears in child benefits in Primorye, which now total 550 million new rubles ($91 million). The Duma agreed to allow krai officials to distribute money to individual families, based on greatest need.

The idea of spending without forming a budget rankled some deputies.

“The budget situation is now worse after this session,” said Deputy Vladimir Ksenzuk. “We didn’t adopt a single law. There’s no budget but we’re deciding on expenditures, and that doesn’t even worry deputies.”

Ksenzuk, who represents Vladivostok, also complained that the Duma’s decision to delay the budget breaks federal law. But First Vice. Gov Nikolai Sadomsky disagreed. “There have been no violations of the budget process,” he said.

Sadomsky admitted, however, that krai funds will probably come up short at the end of the year. In 1997 the krai received only 46 percent – 1.1 billion new rubles ($166 million) – of promised federal subsidies.

The krai also expects to have 730 million new rubles ($120 million) less revenue this year because some federal tax laws have already changed, said Krai Administration Department Chief German Zverev.

As a result, the Duma voted to deny some pharmacies and drug stores tax privileges, and will also consider demanding taxes from efficient strip mines in Primorye’s northern regions, officials said.