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The capital received HUF 118 bln in local business tax advance payments by Wednesday evening and used the proceeds to clear the overdraft, Ambrus Kiss, director of the Mayor’s Office, told a panel discussion, state news agency MTI reported.
The city’s overdraft facility stood at HUF 80 bln, while approximately HUF 3.5 bln is expected to remain in its account at the end of September, he said.
“It will simply not be possible to generate funds of that magnitude; we still need to reach an agreement with the government,” Kiss said of the October solidarity contribution bill. He declined to discuss the status of negotiations.
Budapest’s transport companies will also use the recently collected revenues to repay a HUF 45 bln bridge loan before the end of September, with enough money remaining to cover wages in early October.
Kiss said the capital would no longer have access to such a credit facility from early Saturday morning, as the financing bank had guaranteed repayment only until that point.
The city has consequently announced a freeze on new financial commitments in recent weeks. The restriction applies to commitments of any value at the municipal office and the local government itself, and to amounts exceeding HUF 20 mln at the capital’s institutions.
A hiring freeze and a freeze on institutional investments have also been introduced, he added.
Addressing conditions in public spaces, Kiss said the municipality was seeking to resolve what many describe as problems involving homelessness, drug abuse and bottle collection.
He rejected the suggestion that only homeless people search public trash cans for redeemable plastic bottles, saying people supplementing their incomes through deposits come from many parts of society.
Addressing those problems requires broader wage increases “to ensure that people can make a living out of their jobs … rather than having to collect bottles, or go through other people’s waste,” he said.
Kiss also said many young people were fleeing child care institutions and ending up on the streets. The city supports changes to the child protection system to prevent that cycle from continuing, he added.
Separately, Kiss said the parliamentary committee investigating the presidential pardon case had requested documents concerning the Bicske children’s home and its operations, along with records relating to an award given to its former director, János Vásárhelyi, who was later imprisoned for child abuse.
The city has provided the committee with 800 pages of documents, he said.
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