On March 14th, the city of Tallinn filed a complaint to administrative court against government decree on distribution of money allotted for maintenance of local roads. Yesterday, the court decided to hear the matter.
Tallinn in court, claiming government excise money
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The court confirmed the Government of the Republic as respondent and laid on it the obligation to present its response by May 27th, latest. According to Kalle Klandorf, Tallinn Deputy Mayor responsible for construction and repair of roads, this is a precedent as never before has any local government contested in court the distribution of road management money.
«By the contested decree, we were allotted €2.9m. We think this is an ill-advisedly small sum, considering the size of Tallinn and the transit traffic passing through it. In addition to that, the state opened a measure meant for such locations as have ports and sizable transit. We also applied for money from there, but were denied,» said Mr Klandorf.
According to deputy mayor, the argument is about local governments only being given €30m of fuel excise money, although local roads make at least 40 per cent of Estonian roads.
«The law demands 75 per cent of fuel excise for repairs of roads, but local governments get less than 10 per cent of it,» explained Mr Klandorf.
According to Mr Klandorf, Ministry of Economy’s experts have reckoned that Tallinn would need to spend €30m-€50m a year for at least five years – then the streets of Tallinn would be fixed.
This time, administrative court only discusses the complaint by Tallinn, as other local governments were late filing their complaints. Tallinn also managed in the nick of time.
«The trouble is that many local governments are unable to stand for their rights, in such matters. We have the capability, we have excellent layers, and we can deal with things that we deem unjust,» said Mr Klandorf.
Ministry of Economic Affairs has, in its turn, accused Tallinn itself in insufficient financing of road repairs. «This is a matter of local governments’ choices, whether to offer townsfolk free public transportation, for instance, and blow a €20m sized hole in the budget, or use ticket money to finance road management, among other things,» Rasmus Ruuda, adviser at ministry of economy, has told Postimees.