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Sara Petrosyan

The Village Mayor Asks for a Realistic Subsidy

"I've wanted to solve the waste disposal problem for many years. Tourism is developing in Tsapatagh, the village is at the center of attention, and we would like it to be attractive and clean," said Taguhi Boyakhchyan, mayor of the village of Tsapatagh in the Gegharkunik Marz. She is one of 27 community leaders in the region who sent a memo regarding their financial problems to the National Assembly and the Government.

This high-altitude border village, populated by refugees, does not enjoy all the privileges to which it should be entitled. 500 residents and 100 hectares of land - this is all the village has. The only help from the government is a 1.7 million dram (about 4,000 dollars) yearly subsidy. Despite the community's limitations, the village mayor chief managed to collect a total of 150% of land and income taxes owed, or 3 million drams. "With this budget, we paid off three months of salaries owed from 1999, and seven months from 2005," Boyakhchyan explained. She informed us that the local authorities do not receive a salary, and that the government subsidy is transferred to a pension fund, so they avoid fines.

The community chief is tired of the symbolic transfer of budget debt from one year to the next, and has decided to get put an end to it. She told us that for she has been asking the Ministry of Finance and Economics and the government to review this matter for five years now, and that it has reached the stage that the community's revenues and expenses starting from 1999 should be reviewed by a committee; and standards and goals for work and spending should be set, and a realistic subsidy provided accordingly.

"The salary debt of our community was a result of the difference between revenues and expenses. Let them count our revenues, discuss budget expenditures, decide on the focus of the budget and give us a subsidy that is in line with real expenses. If that happens, we will be able to pay attention to village roads and environmental issues," she said.

Water supply and improvement of the drinking water system are top priorities, but existing financing does not allow progress in these areas, the village mayor explained. She noted that they have water, but cannot construct a pipeline to carry it to the village. "If a community doesn't have water, people start thinking about leaving, " she says.

Mayor Boyakhchyan says that in comparison with other villages, Tsapatagh's local government has taken on a great deal of responsibility-it provides scholarships and for students from poor families to attend state universities and pays for their textbooks and supports the refugees living in the village. "Starting from burial costs," she said, "everything is on our shoulders."

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