We recently wrote that an advertising company from Gliwice wanted to make posters and invitations for the Bolesławiec Ceramic Festival cheaply. But municipal officials chose an offer two and a half times more expensive. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case. Nowogrodziec Mayor Robert Relich accepted an almost twice-as-expensive offer for the publication of press materials. The rejected offer from the Istotne Informacje portal and newspaper amounted to PLN 798 net, while the accepted offer from Wrocławska Fabryka Prasowa was PLN 1,550 net per month (over PLN 9,000 more expensive annually). As far as the newspaper was concerned, both offers were identical—the same circulation, the same publication format and the same page on which information from the municipality would be placed.
The mayor himself admitted that the Istotne Informacje offer was “very interesting and advantageous.” He immediately added, however, that “equally […] an offer from Wrocławska Fabryka Prasowa, with which we have been cooperating for several years, was submitted to this Office. Bearing in mind habit [podkreślenie – red.] among our Residents, as well as the fact that for several years they have associated Express Bolesławiecki with the press in which they can find information about the life of the Municipality and City of Nowogrodziec, I decided [o] to continue cooperating with Wrocławska Fabryka Prasowa.”
And everything would be fine—the mayor may freely choose offers—were it not for the fact that local governments are bound by the Public Finance Act, which clearly states that public money should be spent economically. What is more, the municipality’s finances should be managed in accordance with the principles of purposefulness, legality and thrift. In view of this, it is inconceivable that the choice of an offer should be decided solely by habit—and here it is difficult to say unequivocally whether this refers to the residents’ habit or rather the mayor’s.
(editorial information ii)