By Upon announcement that the Municipal Assembly of Ulcinj at the forthcoming session for the functioning of the local public broadcaster (LPB) RTV Ulcinj will give only 80,000 euros, which leads to its closure, SMCG addressed the President of Montenegro, the President of the Parliament, the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Ministers, the Minister of Culture, the European Delegation in Montenegro, as well as directors of the Tax Administration and the Agency for Electronic Media.
The same was asked of everyone. According to the professional position, to find a way to influence the leading people of the Municipality and prevent them from destroying that radio.
“We believe that you are aware of the financial situation of Radio Ulcinj, the first bilingual radio station in Montenegro. Municipality of Ulcinj, which is its founder, with negligence brought it in this situation. At the moment, the employees of this radio are owed 17 earnings without the hope that they wil be paid. Ten of our colleagues, who are employed by that local public broadcaster, received their last earnings in July”, the letter said.
Our reaction is initiated by an announcement that by decision of the local parliament Radio Ulcinj will receive only 80,000 euros for the functioning next year, which directly leads to the shut down of the radio (for which earlier this year the Mayor of Ulcinj announced that he would enrich it with the most modern television in the Balkans). The planned budget hardly will be enough to finance net wages that will come in 2020, and not a cent will be able to be spent on program production or debt repayment.
Like has been repeatedly and unofficially said, we understood that the ultimate goal is to shut down the radio. However, the Municipality is not ready to make that decision. They want to get rid of the radio through the Tax Administration’s decisions that would take him into bankruptcy and liquidation.
We are reminded that taxes and contributions for the period 2011- 2015 are part of the agreement on the gradual repayment by 2032 between the local authorities and the Tax Administration. From 2015 until the end of this year, debt for taxes and contributions amounts to €197,590. From July 2018 (for this month they were paid their last salary in July this year) until November 30 this year, the debt for salary to workers amounts to €88,000 net because taxes have been included in the previous paragraph.
Since April 2018, no financial compensation has been paid to members of the Council and this amount has reached the sum of €10,500. For gross salaries, without development and other expenses annually the radio needs about €120,000. So, if budget will be €80,000, they start in the negative €40,000 only for the next year, provided that the budget will be realized.
We emphasize that the radio has 10 employees. The average salary is €516. The average length of service is 26.2 years. The average age of employees is 53 years, and the last employment was in 2006.
The session of the local parliament is scheduled for December 23.
MAIN BOARD OF SMCG
