Narek Khachatryan

Artsrun Abrahamyan, the head of the community administration in Dvin, is one of the few district leaders in the Artashat administrative region of the Ararat Marz (province) who has a university degree. 

His is also unusual in that he does not exhibit the cowardly behavior displayed by the majority of the others who hold such posts.  The villagers said that this was explained by his character and education.  "He was a Dashnak, but because he was independent, he would often not listen to the 'advice' of his party members, so they expelled him.  He would sometimes stand opposed to the governor as well, which is why he is not his favorite," said a villager who wished to remain anonymous.

The council of elders should consist of ten members in Dvin, but only seven people proposed their candidacy.  Therefore, the council was "incomplete" in this community from the very beginning. The majority of council members belong to one political party or the other.  Four of them are from Tigran Karapetyan's Popular Party.  "Not all the council members understand what is meant by a budget.  But they follow the discussions with such serious and thoughtful expressions…  When they vote, they look at the person sitting next to them to 'decide'," said the community head, describing the council.  Meetings of the council of elders are conducted here once a month or every two months.   Serob Vardanyan, the chief of staff for the council of elders, added, "They don't always come.  Those who are absent authorize others to vote for them."

In order to breathe new life into this moribund structure, the community head proposed making a few changes, including the introduction of age limits and educational requirements.  "An 18-year old child has been elected to the council of elders.  The name of the council should reflect its composition a little, shouldn't it?  So what if he is literate?" said the community head.

"It's absurd, but this is our reality.  What can we do?" said chief of staff Serob Vardanyan, and continued, "I have to pass a review soon, but there are people in the council like Krutoy Charpo (Cool Charpo), among others, who did not even finish eight years of school.  They have really put us in a stupid situation."  When I commented that it was probably a lot easier for them to work this way, since they had nobody opposing them, they said that it was, on the contrary, a lot more difficult to work with such people, who did not understand anything but considered themselves important politicians on the local scene.

The budget of the village of Dvin village is 12 million drams this year, 7 million of which has to be collected through land tax.  But since the year was not a prosperous one for the village, only 30% of that amount had been collected.  Some of the communities in the region have relied on state subsidies this year, unlike the previous year.  Even the salaries of some council staff members were provided through state grants (and this village was not the only such case).  The office of the community head at Dvin stated that their evaluation for executing the previous year's budget had been quite good, and they managed to deal with other issues besides paying salaries.  Tax collection worsened in many villages this year, to the extent that the provincial council decided to prohibit the payment of salaries at the expense of the state grants (these grants are provided for development projects in the communities).

"We are forced to seek crude solutions and pressure the people to collect taxes. But if someone doesn't have money, whatever you do is in vain.  Sometimes you enter someone's house and you see that they don't have enough money to eat - how can you take someone like that to court and, in general, for not paying land tax?  If I take them to court, it means that they will virtually lose their land, which is just about the same as losing their last piece of bread.  I won't do that.  All you can do is ask them, try to convince them.  I may not be community head tomorrow, but I will go on living here and must be able to look my villagers in the eyes," said Mr. Abrahamyan.

However, he also admitted that there were those who did not pay taxes for years, despite having the financial means to do so.  "Basically, we have three groups of people - those who cannot pay land tax, those who can pay but don't, and those who pay conscientiously, regardless of their financial situation," said Abrahamyan.

It is an unequal and morally unacceptable situation, and the law does not provide any solution.  Nevertheless, the community head said that tax collection had improved considerably over the past year in the village.  "We are trying to collect taxes for the previous years too, but there are still people who have tax debts dating back to 1994," said the community head.  In 2002, when he was elected, tax collection rates were at 21%; now they stand at 60-70%. Tax collection, and therefore the execution of the budget, depended largely on the apricot harvest in this village - they are directly proportional.  In previous years, the village had a harvest of 500-600 tons of apricots, while this year, they did not even have enough to eat.  "That is why we're running on empty," it was said in the office of the community head.

The community head also considered it to be an indicator of the financial situation that villagers could not afford to buy fertilizer at the discounted rates (3,700 drams per bag) which were offered.  "60 tons were offered to Dvin village and we had till December 1 to collect the money.  The announcement was put up in a number of different places, but only 2 tons worth of money was collected by the deadline.  Many people had wanted to buy fertilizer, but all the resources of this huge village was only enough for two tons," said the community head.

2.5 million drams from the community budget were allocated to the aid fund this year, which mostly "went to burials".  "We provide aid of 30-50 thousand drams on average, which is only enough for the casket," said Artsrun Abrahamyan.  The village budget is so weak, it was said, that only slight renovations in some places were possible.

"In order to do any serious work we have to hold out our hands and ask for money like beggars.  We want to improve the condition of the streets running through the village but we have no funds; we want to renovate the water pipeline, but again we have no money.  But the law regarding local administration leaves these issues to the community to solve," added the community head.

At this time, the roof of the house of culture was being renovated at the expense of the state budget.  Before that, the school's roof had been renovated through the social investment fund (10% was provided by the office of the community head).

According to the staff of the community head, state grants in the past were given with terms dictating how it should be spent.  Now there is no such thing.  It has been left completely up to the community head's office in the past two years.  "Of course, the provincial administration says that it would be desirable to use that money for development work and we understand that," said the head of staff.  This work includes filling potholes in village roads.  Around 100 truckloads of road metal has been emptied on to the streets over the past few days.  According to information available to us, the villages of Ararat are obliged to buy road metal from a company belonging to MP Jonik Abrahamyan (brother of Minister of Territorial Administration Hovik Abrahamyan).

Such work is usually done through a tender. "When a job costs more than 1 million drams, then it is done under the supervision of the provincial administration.  In such cases, we write a letter to the provincial head, requesting him to spend the given amount for that purpose.  His approval is necessary," said the community head.  This was the official version of the procedure.  However, after the interview, the staff of the community head were much more direct in their analysis of the situation.

In their opinion, the right to conduct work which is outlined by law has, in reality, been taken away from community heads and has been put under the supervision of provincial administrations.  While the law regarding local administration gives serious authorities to local administrative bodies, very little is allowed in reality.  "Everything is given to the marz administration and other bodies.  The community head's decision is discussed in the legal department of the provincial administration.  Why should this be so? The budget has made an allocation for something and the community head has approved it, but that does not matter - the provincial head has to approve.  Doesn't that mean that everything is just a formality?" asked the staff of the community head.

Ararat