The Ministry of Finance finances activities defined in the Law on the State Budget of the Republic of Bulgaria for 2025, the Law on Road Transport and the Regulation on the terms and procedures for providing funds for compensations and subsidies, and not salaries of employees in municipal and private companies.
The mayors of the municipalities are responsible for the management of the funds provided to them under the Regulation for the exercise of control over the concluded contracts for public passenger transport and for compliance with budgetary discipline in accordance with the Law on Public Finance. It is within the powers of each mayor to determine the amount of remuneration and financing of expenses, as well as the financial management of the funds of the managed municipal companies and the activities in them.
This is stated by the Ministry of Finance.
In the Law on the State Budget of the Republic of Bulgaria for 2025, adopted by the National Assembly in March, the total funds estimated for subsidies and compensations are BGN 522.3 million, with an increase of BGN 106.5 million compared to the law for 2024. This ensures sustainability of the funds for these activities in an annual amount in 2025. Including this, BGN 106 million has been provided for subsidies for the Sofia Municipality for intra-city transport, or an increase of BGN 17 million compared to 2024. For subsidies for passenger transport on unprofitable bus lines, for all other municipalities except the Sofia Municipality, in the inner-city and transport in mountainous and other areas, 122 million BGN have been provided, or an increase of 23 million BGN compared to 2024. For compensation for reduced travel prices for all municipalities, including for the transport of children and students, 294.3 million BGN have been provided, which represents an increase of 66.5 million BGN compared to the ZDBRB for 2024.
All municipalities are to adopt their budgets for 2025 in April and May, in accordance with the procedure under the Public Finance Act. It is within the powers of the mayor of the respective municipality to take the necessary actions to finance all types of activities on the territory of the municipality for 2025. In addition, with the provision of Art. 91 para. 2 of the 2025 Budget and Budget Act provides for the possibility that funds not used as of December 31, 2024 in the municipal budgets for financing state activities, with the exception of those in the "Education" function, may be spent by decision of the municipal council for activities delegated by the state in all functions, if this does not contradict the conditions set out in the regulatory act by which they were approved. According to reporting data as of December 31, 2024, total available funds in the amount of BGN 283.6 million were reported for the Sofia Municipality alone.