Flýtilyklar
Bulgarian local authorities
Bulgaria is a Parliamentary Republic with local self-government, implemented at the municipalities.
Bulgaria is divided into 6 planning regions1 (NUTS 2), 28 administrative regions (NUTS 3) and 264 municipalities (LAU 1). According to the OECD definition, there are 20 predominantly rural NUTS 3 regions, seven - intermediary rural regions and only one predominantly urban region - the capital Sofia. Thus, predominantly and intermediary rural regions cover 98.8% of the territory and account for 84.3% of the population of Bulgaria.
The national definition, used for Agricultural Policy And Rural Development aims, defines rural areas as municipalities, in which no settlement has a population over 30 thousand people. According to this definition, 231 municipalities in Bulgaria are classified as rural. The rural areas represent 81% of the Bulgarian territory and 42% of the population.
Each municipality consists of one or more settlements.2
On average, a Bulgarian municipality encompasses about 25 villages with a total population of about 30 000 who live on an average territory of 422 square kilometers.
Each municipality consists of one or more settlements - mayoralties, or wards (in cities with a total population of above 100 000 people – Sofia, Plovdiv and Varna). Mayoralties consist of one or more villages with a total population of over 250 people.
The municipality is a major administrative and territorial unit, where the local self-government is carried out.3
The term of office of the local self-government officials is four years. In case of premature termination of a mayor’s prerogatives, partial elections are held. In case of premature termination of a municipal councilor’s prerogatives, he/she is replaced by the next candidate on the ballot.
What is a Municipal Council?
Municipal council is a local self-government body, whose members are elected on a proportion basis for a period of 4 years. It consists of elected municipal councilors. The municipal council is presided by the Municipal Council Chair, who organizes and manages its activities.
The members of the municipal council elect among themselves the members of the standing and temporary commissions, and adopt the Municipal Council’s Structure and Activity Regulations. Municipal councilors are assisted in their work by the respective municipal administration.
The municipal council:
Defines the overall municipal development policy;
Adopts and controls the implementation of the municipal budget;
Determines the size of municipal fees;
Makes decisions concerning the acquisition, maintenance and management of municipal property;
Makes decisions concerning the drafting and approval of the municipal territorial development plans and their modifications;
Approves the structure of the municipal administration;
Makes decisions with regard to the carrying out of administrative reforms, which concern municipality’s territory, the holding of local referendums, and the municipality’s associating with other municipalities.
Calls sittings at least six times a year. If in the course of three months the Municipal Council does not hold a sitting, its rights are suspended with a Decision of the Municipal Election Committee and in the next three months new municipal council elections are carried out.4
The mayor exercises the executive power within the municipality. He/she:
Manages the overall executive activity of the municipality by coordinating and controlling the work of the various units;
Appoints and dismisses the employees of the municipal administration;
Organizes the implementation of the municipal council’s decisions;
Implements the municipal budget and reports to the municipal council and the citizens;
Represents the municipality before natural and legal persons, public organization, political parties and the court.
Structure of municipal management and administration
Municipalities are responsible for:
Collection and treatment of household waste;
Urban Development Construction and maintenance of streets, squares, parks, gardens, street lights;
Operation of public transport on the territory of municipality;
General and detailed town plans. The municipality adopts specific strategies and plans concerning the development of its territory, complying with its specific environmental, historic, social and other needs.
Maintenance and further development of local sports, tourist and other recreational facilities;
Municipal schools - grammar, primary, and secondary schools (including remuneration and social security payments of the respective staff), municipal hospitals and social institutions, social services centers, cultural, historical, and architectural monuments of municipal importance;
Municipal kindergartens;
Municipal theatres, orchestras, museums and their art collections, libraries, etc.;
Defining the fees for municipal services;
Management of municipal property for the benefit of the citizens;
Management of municipal companies and enterprises;
Adoption and implementation of the Municipal Budget.
The activities linked to the management of healthcare, education, social security and culture, are shared between the municipalities and the national government.
According to the Constitution, the municipality has an independent budget.
The State, according the Law, determines the nature and sources of municipal funds and also what purposes they can be spent for.
The funds that make up the municipal budgets come from:
Government transfers – those are the money, provided to the municipalities under the form of general and dedicated subsidies;
Own revenues – those are the local taxes, paid by the citizens, such as Real Estate tax, Inheritance tax, Donation tax, Vehicle tax, etc.; local fees for household waste, use of shopping mall space, markets, sidewalks, squares, streets; fees for services of nurseries, kindergartens, camps, chalets, social service facilities, administrative and maintenance services, protection of agricultural property, and other municipal fees, cash inflows from services, rendered by the municipality as well as revenues from the management of municipal property.
The Constitution and the Local Self-government and Local Administration Act give the municipalities the right to associate with each other for the protection of their common interests.
In 1996 the Bulgarian municipalities were united in the National Association of Municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria (NAMRB). The Association has the right, by law and in practice to:
Represent municipalities before the central government and international organizations;
Protect the rights and defend their interests;
Draft proposals for amendment in legislation on local self-governance,
Hold annual consultations with the Ministry of Finance on the draft State Budget in its part, concerning municipalities.
There are also 10 regional municipal associations, whose goals are linked to finding solutions to specific regional problems.
1. The Law on the Regional Development, (Promulgated in SG, issue 14 of 20.02.2004)
2. The Administrative and Territorial Division Act of the Republic Of Bulgaria, (Promulgated in SG, issue 63 of 14.07.1995)
3. The Law on the Local Self-government and the Local Administration, (Promulgated in SG, issue 77 of 17.09.1991, amended)
4. The Law for Election of Members of Parliament and Councilors, (Promulgated in SG, issue 32 of 22.04.1977; amended issue 72 of 1981, issues 27 and 87 of 1986)
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