Tension and clash between municipal councilors and members of parliament occurred at the last meeting of the Municipal Council in Montana for the year, at which amendments were adopted that increase local taxes for vehicles and real estate, as well as the so-called. "garbage fee", BNT reported.
The session of the local parliament today attracted particular public interest, and the hall turned out to be small to gather all those wishing to attend in person.
The space in front of the building in which the meeting was held was filled with numerous employees of the Ministry of Interior and security guards of a private company, the owner of which explained to BNT that it was hired to guarantee the security and peaceful conduct of the meeting, which is why calls for mass protests in the regional town appeared on social networks on the occasion of the already adopted increase, for which all councilors, except the three from "Vazrazhdane", voted "for".
The event was attended by citizens, mayors of settlements in Montana Municipality, people from the municipal administration and a group of deputies from "Vazrazhdane".
Throwing of epithets and remarks between the municipal employees and the deputies, as well as a violation of the rules during the meeting, led to a moment when physical contact occurred between the municipal councilors and the deputies, and Mayor Zlatko Zhivkov and his deputies had to intervene and separate the participants in the conflict.
After the intervention of security guards and even Mayor Zlatko Zhivkov, the tension was brought under control and the meeting ended successfully, with all items on the agenda being voted on with a majority of the BSP, GERB-SDF, "DPS-New Beginning" and PP-DB.
The Municipal Council in Plovdiv adopted the increase in the "garbage" fee by nearly 44% from the new year.
According to the administration's estimates for residential properties, the new amount is 2.6 per mille instead of the previous 1.8. For businesses, the increase is from 5.6 to 7.7. The proposal was the subject of long debates, but was ultimately supported by 29 votes "for". 20 councilors voted "against".
Mayor Kostadin Dimitrov recalled that the levy was not changed until 2012, and during that time the costs of the service have risen dramatically, as has the area taken care of by the municipal company. According to him, a discount of 5 percent is provided if the debts are paid by the end of April.