Government budget delay causes planning nightmare for local governments

Local governments are having a problem drafting their budgets before the Nov. 15 deadline set out by law, because it is uncertain how much money they will get from the central budget in subsidies and grants. The root of the problem is the government's decision to delay presenting the budget to Sejm by six weeks, from Sept. 30 to Nov. 15. In two weeks local governments should receive preliminary information on subsidies and grants they are to receive. "We shall try our best to provide preliminary information [to municipalities] on time," said deputy Finance Minister Halina Wasilewska-Trenkner. However, it is not quite clear according to which version of the budget these subsidies would be calculated - the initial version or the amended one after Sejm rejected government proposals on value-added tax (VAT) increases. (Rzeczpospolita, page B2)