The main item on the agenda of the last City Council session, held on 23 April, was a vote on approving the report on the implementation of the city’s 2007 budget and on granting Mayor Piotr Roman a vote of approval. Before the councillors made their decision, however, the mayor presented them with the results of analyses conducted by the regional audit chamber. According to the RIO, our city recorded an extraordinary increase in budget revenues and expenditure by national standards. “Neither Dzierżoniów nor Kłodzko, and Świdnica or Zgorzelec least of all, can hold a candle to us,” said Piotr Roman. “By national standards, Bolesławiec is one of the leaders in terms of the growth dynamics of revenues and expenditure, as well as expenditure incurred on investment projects.” He added that this was probably the best budget in the city’s local-government history.
Critical voices
After Piotr Roman’s speech, Cezariusz Rudyk, a councillor from the Civic Platform, spoke. He accused the mayor of failing to mention in the report how much the municipality spends on promotion. “I maintain that there is no clear concept for the city’s development in the coming years,” he stressed Rudyk. “We have no idea what to do with the most important investment areas.” The councillor cited, among other things, the undeveloped Rev. Popiełuszko Square. “Why have housing estates sprung up around Bolesławiec in Kruszyn, in Bożejowice and in Łaziska? It’s simple—those municipalities have been investing in land servicing for years. If such opportunities did not exist in our city, I would have no complaints against you, Mr Mayor,” explained the PO councillor.
The councillor also raised the issue of renovating Bolesławiec’s Market Square. “Why did we pave this square? To fill it with people,” said Rudyk. Meanwhile, in his opinion, the city had done little in this direction. The councillor asked how many times officials from the promotion department had met with business owners and hoteliers. “It’s not only about the city doing something in the Market Square, but also about allowing others to do things,” stressed the PO politician. “It is supposed to be a place that attracts people. For now, we have a beautiful square without people.”
The budget in the eyes of the SLD caucus
Józef Burniak, an SLD councillor, supported Cezariusz Rudyk. The former mayor of Bolesławiec agreed with Piotr Roman that last year’s budget was the best in history. “But that money will no longer be available in future budgets, and we will not stand out so much from other cities. It is a one-off success,” noted Burniak.
“If things are so good, then why are they so bad?” the SLD councillor asked rhetorically. “Why, if Bolesławiec is such a wonderful city on earth, does its population decrease every year?” Burniak stressed that young people view the municipality’s achievements quite differently; they are increasingly leaving our city because they see no future for themselves here.
Explaining why the SLD caucus would vote against the two most important resolutions of Wednesday’s session, the former mayor stated: “The urban municipality is doing little when it comes to housing construction. The programmes we adopted are not being implemented.” He also added that the mayor ignored motions submitted by opposition councillors. “If a proper councillor, a councillor from the coalition, submits a motion, it is recorded and implemented,” he protested Burniak.
Voices of approval
The discussion was joined by Jarosław Kowalski from the Bolesławiec XXI caucus, who stressed that an approval session concerns the implementation of the adopted and executed budget and that he hoped the council would approach the resolution substantively during the vote. A similar view was expressed by Hubert Prabucki from Ziemia Bolesławiecka. In his view, councillor Cezariusz Rudyk had addressed the city’s long-term policy in his speech rather than the budget. Meanwhile, Dominik Chodyra, a councillor associated with the governing coalition in the city, said: “I agree with many of the things Mr Rudyk said. Today, however, I will vote in favour of the budget’s high level of implementation—that is what the figures show.”
The mayor rebuts the allegations
Piotr Roman stressed that documents such as the Multiannual Investment Programme prove that a vision for the city’s development exists. As he noted, opposition councillors had repeatedly supported the proposed changes to the budget: “If you voted in favour, that means you agreed with the vision outlined in those documents.”
The mayor also addressed the issue of Rev. Popiełuszko Square. He noted that the spatial development plan would be adopted in the autumn. “Do you expect me to break the law and allow a shopping centre to be built in a place where the previous plan did not provide for it?” he asked Cezariusz Rudyk Piotr Roman.
In response to the allegation that the economic zone had appeared in Bolesławiec too late, the mayor replied: “We did it when the opportunity arose. A great many municipalities sought such a zone.” In Roman’s view, the allegations made by the PO activist concerning last year’s budget were as if he were trying to assess the last 18 years of Bolesławiec’s local government.
The heated discussion about the budget lasted more than an hour. There were also verbal clashes between the activists. Despite the controversy, the City Council approved the report on the implementation of the city’s 2007 budget by a majority vote and granted the mayor a vote of approval. PO and SLD councillors voted against.