Regulations on some temporary expenditures during the process of administrative unit arrangement in Nghe An

Voter Nguyen Xuan Hong - Vice Chairman of the People's Council of Nghia Hop commune, Tan Ky district, reported that the work of arranging administrative units at the commune level in the district has completed the collection of voters' opinions and passed the People's Councils at all levels. The communes have temporarily spent money on propaganda, decoration, activities of the committee, vote counting team, organizing the voter voting day, stationery, etc., but up to now, there has been no instruction on spending, content of spending and payment and settlement of this expenditure. It is recommended that there be a document guiding the implementation.

Regarding this issue, the Department of Finance has the following response:

The budget for organizing propaganda and mobilization; organizing to collect voters' opinions and other necessary tasks to implement the arrangement of district and commune-level administrative units shall be implemented according to the provisions of Clause 1, Article 22, Resolution No. 35/2023/UBTVQH15 dated July 12, 2023 of the National Assembly Standing Committee on the arrangement of district and commune-level administrative units for the period 2023 - 2030, specifically:

"1.The State budget allocates funds to reorganize administrative units at district and commune levels according to current regulations on State budget and State budget decentralization.to develop plans and projects to reorganize administrative units at district and commune levels;organize propaganda and mobilization; organize to collect voters' opinions;Resolving policies and regimes for cadres, civil servants, public employees, and redundant workers; urban construction activitiesand other necessary tasks due to administrative unit arrangement"and the guidance of the Ministry of Finance at Point 1.3, Section 1, Official Dispatch No. 8006/BTC-NSNN dated July 31, 2023 on guidance on implementing the arrangement of administrative units at district and commune levels for the period 2023 - 2030, specifically: "The expenditures for the arrangement of administrative units in each locality are different (budgets for developing the Project, organizing propaganda, mobilizing, organizing to collect voters' opinions, paying benefits for redundant officials and civil servants, etc.). Therefore, it is recommended that ministries, central agencies and localities base on the provisions of the State Budget Law and guiding documents, Resolution No. 35/2023/UBTVQH15 dated July 12, 2023 of the National Assembly Standing Committee on the arrangement of administrative units at district and commune levels for the period 2023-2030, current spending standards and norms related to the expenditures for the arrangement to arrange funds to carry out the task of arranging administrative units at district and commune levels in the area".

To reduce difficulties for localities in performing the task of arranging administrative units at district and commune levels in the province, the Department of Finance has reported to the Provincial People's Committee to submit to the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Council to allocate from the source of increased provincial budget revenue in 2023, the source of provincial budget expenditure savings in 2023 and the source of capital recovery for works and projects that are not eligible to transfer to 2024, the amount: 10,920,000,000 VND.(Ten billion nine hundred twenty million dong)for the budgets of districts, cities and towns to support funding for the implementation of direction work and tasks related to the arrangement of administrative units at district and commune levels.(in Official Dispatch No. 183/HĐND-TT dated July 24, 2024 of the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Council on the plan to allocate sources of increased provincial budget revenue in 2023, sources of provincial budget expenditure savings in 2023 and sources of capital recovery for works and projects that are not eligible to be transferred to 2024 and Decision No. 1965/QD-UBND dated August 5, 2024 of the Provincial People's Committee on handling sources of increased provincial budget revenue in 2023, sources of provincial budget expenditure savings in 2023 and sources of capital recovery for works and projects that are not eligible to be transferred to 2024).

In particular, the level of financial support for the implementation of the task of arranging administrative units at district and commune levels in the period of 2023-2025 is specifically as follows:

- Support districts, cities, and towns (collectively referred to as districts) in carrying out direction and tasks related to the arrangement of administrative units at district and commune levels, amount: 3,400,000,000 VND(support level: 400 million VND/district for districts participating in the arrangement of district-level administrative units (including Nghi Loc district, Vinh city and Cua Lo town); 200 million VND/district for (remaining) districts with communes participating in the arrangement of commune-level administrative units).

- Support communes, wards and towns (collectively referred to as communes) to perform tasks related to the arrangement of commune-level administrative units, amount: 7,520,000,000 VND(support level: 80 million VND/commune participating in the arrangement).