Cracow. Three councilors made a mistake in voting. They will try to pass the WPF again before Christmas

The Multiannual Financial Forecast (WPF) is a document in which the local government determines its planned income and expenses for at least the next four years. The resolution includes, among others: the planned debt and the source of its repayment, as well as tasks lasting several years, including investments such as the construction of a new street, the creation of a park or the modernization of buildings. The city budget is a similar document, but it provides for expenses and revenues only for the coming year. The budget is the basis for how officials spend money.

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Now is the last call for the municipal councils to adopt both of these documents. In the case of Krakow, the budget was adopted during the last session, but its entry into force was questionable because the councilors did not adopt the Multiannual Financial Forecast.

Even though the city is governed by President Aleksander Miszalski from the Civic Coalition and he has a majority in the city council (thanks to the votes of KO and New Left councilors), during the last vote on Wednesday, the opposition votes prevailed. Councillors PIS and Krakow for Residents voted against the adoption of WPF. Three KO councilors voted similarly. As it turned out, by mistake.

The resolution went to the trash.

– There is no split in the coalition, it was a mistake at work. Councilors sitting next to each other probably stared or voted against out of some sort of absent-mindedness. They thought it was just another amendment and voted against it instead of voting for it. After the vote, they were devastated and devastated – explained the head of the KO councilors' club, Grzegorz Stawowy, in an interview with tvn24.pl.

Stawowy explained that it was impossible to repeat the vote, because only a technical reason would allow for a re-vote – e.g. a fault in the voting equipment. And not a mistake.

As a result, not only was the WPF not adopted, but the budget for next year was also paralyzed. The session was suspended, and on Thursday, councilors met with representatives of the Regional Chamber of Audit to determine what to do next.

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“The President of the City of Krakow declared that he would again submit to the Krakow City Council a draft resolution on the Multiannual Financial Forecast with the same content, previously reviewed by the Regional Chamber of Audit in Krakow. The form will have a new number and a standard adoption procedure,” said the chairman of the Krakow City Council in a statement. Jakub Kosek. Councilors are to adopt the Multiannual Financial Forecast on Monday, December 23.

According to the vice-chairman of the council, Iwona Chamielec from KO, “something happened that should not have happened, but everyone is human and can make a mistake.” – I want to reassure residents that the budget is not at risk, and on Monday we will vote on the WPF – she announced

However, opposition councilors say that the disastrous mistake would not have been made if it were not for the attitude of politicians from the ruling coalition.

– In this rush to reject all the opposition's ideas, councilors from the ruling coalition threw the entire resolution into the trash. There would be no such situation if opposition councilors were invited to dialogue on the budget – vice-chairman of the city council Łukasz Maślona from Krakow for Residents told us. The leader of this club is Aleksander Miszalski's main opponent in the local elections, Łukasz Gibała.

– If the WPF is not adopted, the financing of municipal tasks will be at risk because officials will not have a formal basis to dispose of the funds – added Maślona. He emphasized that in the budget, councilors voted on individual tasks out of almost 200 submitted by PiS and KdM. In the case of WPF, all amendments submitted by opposition councilors were lost. That's why they voted against it.

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– This is chaos, a mess – said the vice-chairman of the council, Michał Drewnicki from PiS. – President Miszalski does not talk to opposition councilors, he did not even seek our support for these resolutions. He accepted 20 or 25 amendments from the opposition to the budget, while accepting 350 amendments from his councilors. If someone votes against the opposition's amendments 200 times, they could then make a mistake when voting on the entire resolution, just like three KO councilors did. They simply overslept, Drewnicki emphasized.

During the session, Aleksander Miszalski thanked the councilors for the amendments submitted, assessing that most of them were justified, but he did not have the finances to implement all the projects. – Certainly, the savings plans and reforms that we are implementing will result in the next budget being better – said the mayor of Krakow.

– Platform councilors can only blame themselves for not being able to maintain discipline in voting on the most important financial document in the city. This swallow does not bode well for the future, especially since this is only the beginning of this term of office of the local government – said Łukasz Maślona.

Councilor Drewnicki announced that the politicians of this formation will again try to pass their amendments to the WPF.

However, councilor Grzegorz Stawowy replied that the tasks that the opposition wants to add to the WPF have not been added to the budget. – There can be no discrepancies in the amounts. Budget and WPF must be like a zipper, they must fit perfectly. This is not possible, said councilor KO.

The head of the coalition councilors' club said that although voting discipline had been broken by three KO councilors – Iwona Chamielec, Bogumiła Drabik and Grażyna Fijałkowska – he had not yet considered any consequences towards the politicians. – I'm not thinking about it yet. Now we want to finalize the financial matters, he emphasized.