Tatarstan State Council passes budget plan for 2010 in second reading

The Tatarstan State Council has today adopted the draft law called "On Budget of Republic of Tatarstan for 2010" in the second reading. 78 deputies voted for and 5 against.

Presenting the draft law, the budget, tax and finance committee head Murad Gadelshin said a total of 111 amendments had been proposed by the time of the second reading. Most of the amendments were made by the Tatarstan Cabinet of Ministers and the Communist faction of the parliament. The amendments pertain to various areas.

Some amendments are related to changing the principal fund manager and delegating the power to finance some budget receivers, as well as assigning local institutions to municipal districts and cities’ budgets.

Extra funds have been proposed to be allocated for the Kazan Kremlin reserve museum, to cover the security and fire maintenance expenses, as well as the ones related to maintaining utilities and compiling museum collections. The Tatarstan government proposes to include in the budget an expenditure of 50 million roubles, to provide residences to young orphans and children left without parental care, as well as to children in child custody who have no fixed abode.

The MPs proceeded by debating amendments proposed by the Communist faction that had devised an alternative budget plan. After multiple consultations, the decision was made to leave 7 of the 33 amendments. The amended articles include ones on increasing the funding of museum maintenance and development in Tatarstan in 2009-2011, that of high-technology medical help and of measures of social support of labour veterans.

Another amendment involves increasing the funding of homes for retired and disabled people. According to Murad Gadylshin, the expenditure on the homes' maintenance includes a 10-percent indexation; the principle is observed, therefore, such changes do not have to be included in the budget, he said. After a discussion, the amendment, as well as all others proposed by the Communist faction, was rejected.

The MPs plan to review the draft budget for next year at today’s meeting and in the third reading.