Money from increased taxes, still insufficient for town halls. Mayor: “It would seem shameful to tell them that I do, knowing that I have nothing to do”

No matter how big the increases in local taxes and fees are, a small town hall cannot survive on these funds alone, even if more than 90% of taxpayers would pay them, the mayors warn.

Money from the receipts from the population, insufficient for small towns PHOTO: Shutterstock

Many town halls have already started collecting higher taxes from citizens for 2026, because the state forced the mayors, through an emergency ordinance, to increase the level of taxation. The question that is bothering the mayors is what the locality's budget will be made up of in the year that has just begun, because if the town halls are left with only the money from taxes and fees, most of the rural localities will not even pay the salaries of the employees.

Own revenues, i.e. the money they collect directly from local taxes and fees, rents, land, services, etc., provide very little of the needs of many rural communities. So the state supplements these funds year by year with quotas and amounts broken down from national taxes (income tax and amounts broken down from VAT), according to an algorithm that also takes into account the number of inhabitants. Municipalities also receive subsidies from the state budget (money received for the implementation of various infrastructure programs, water-sewer, gas, schools, social aid, allowances, etc.). Another source of a locality's budget is European funds and other external financing, and municipalities can also contract loans. However, the quotas and amounts broken down from national taxes constitute the basis of operation for most rural localities. This is why mayors are now anxiously waiting to see what the government decides. More than finding out if they will have to give up something from the increase in fees and taxes and for the national budget, they are waiting for the assurance that they will continue to receive money from broken quotas.

Double source of tax increase

Giuvărăști commune, located in the south of Olt county, is not a very large one, instead it became known as a result of the occupation of the inhabitants. Almost 2,000 souls live here, and hundreds of families practice vegetable cultivation in protected spaces (solars). The level of fees and taxes has also increased in Giuvărăști, but the values ​​are not really scary, says the mayor Daniel Pană.

Growth instead comes, in many cases, from two sources. It is about, on the one hand, the increase in the level of taxation, as in the whole country, and on the other, the conclusion of the real estate registration operation, so that from now on taxation is no longer based on the owner's declaration, but on exact measurements made in the systematic registration program.

“The biggest increase is from the non-declaration of surfaces corresponding to the reality in the field. That is to say, he had 80 square meters charged at the town hall and in fact in reality it has 160 square meters. It's the first year after registration,” the mayor explains. He gives his own example: he had 80 square meters of annexes in the declaration and there are actually 124 square meters in the land. The tax for extravillas has also increased, from 90 lei/ha to 112 lei/ha, it adds up and hence the differences, etc.. “Those who have more land will have a higher increase, those who have less – the increase is 200-300 lei. For some, the increase is also of 600-700 lei”says the mayor.

Let's go right back to the mayor's situation. He paid 1,251 lei last year, benefiting from the 10% bonus for early payment. In 2026, with bonus, he will have to pay almost 1,950 lei, but this amount additionally includes a car purchased by the family in 2025 (for which the tax is 124 lei), the difference in the surface area from household annexes and the increase established by local council decision.

Some of the citizens are surprised when they find out the new payment values. “In the first phase, it seems so. It seems that you have an unjustified increase and that the amount is very high, but after you explain it to them… For people it is news, because over the years that situation established on the basis of the statement of the owners has been perpetuated”, details the mayor.

Taxes are even higher for buildings that benefit from utilities, if the municipality has provided the owner with a water network and sewer at the boundary of the property, because these investments require maintenance costs, the mayor explains.

To convince that these tax increases are not to be feared, the mayor gives another example, of a leading farmer in the village, who last year had to pay almost 3,000 lei (benefiting from the subsidy) for the household with a nice house and several outbuildings, and now the increase means less than 500 lei. “And he is a top farmer from Giuvărăști who collects maybe 100,000 euros in a year. He has a house with one floor, annexes, land, everything he has in his position, and that's the increase, 483 lei”the mayor also said.

“I'll say it – I'm not going to stay at the mayor's office under these conditions”

The mayor says that if the problem were that the town halls would be put in a situation to operate only with money from their own income, they would choose to leave. “I would say – sir, I can no longer stay at the mayor's office under these conditions. It would seem shameful for me to come out in front of people and tell them that I do, knowing that I have nothing to do. Let Mr. Bolojan come, let him do it. That is if they don't give any amounts. We, apart from salaries, to be able to work with the city hall officials and the service staff, we can no longer make other investments, or support with the co-financing part. The development of the infrastructure, in any locality in Romania, if we strictly limit ourselves to what we collect from the population, will not be able to develop anywhere. Maybe with some who have resources, they take royalties, a lot of money is collected from other sources. Because in the case of our locality, the increase is 500,000 lei compared to the amount charged last year”, added the mayor.

In 2025, the amount of own income amounted to 1.59 million lei, to which 500 thousand is added this year. It's just that investments can't be made from this money, the mayor claims. The town hall contracted a loan to be able to support its contribution for the gas supply project in the commune, and in 2026 it has to repay 500 thousand lei. If the project for the school also goes into execution, they will need another 500 thousand lei, plus other expenses that may arise, plus the salaries of the employees. All in a commune where there are only four streets left to be paved, where the average age of the citizens is not very high, where people work, develop, build, purchase vehicles and machinery, that is, the tax base keeps growing, and the rate of collection is approximately 85%.

“We laid asphalt all over the country and now they have to come and break”

In the case of town halls in localities with an aging population, however, the disaster would be total if the problem arose of operating only from receipts, not to mention the necessary investments. It is certain that the situation in which we have reached, with localities that have many needs, is not the fault of the citizen, it is categorically the mayor Daniel Pană, but the chaotic way in which it was spent for development.

“Is it the citizen's fault that it has not been possible so far to benefit from all these things in Romania? No, it's not the citizen's fault. It's our fault, everyone, that we couldn't agree on some programs to access funds. That we, as we have now started, Anghel Saligny, would have made a program, would have prioritized these investments. We spread the asphalt all over the country and now they have to come to break it, to pull over it, to damage it, to… We all share this part of the blame. Not just now. The town halls have never had the necessary resources to manage on their own, to be able to make their investments. It is a happy case, for several years now, that these amounts have started to be given per capita, depending on the number of inhabitants”says the mayor.