Association of Kosovo Municipalities raises concerns over municipalities’ share of budget in 2027 planning

The Association of Kosovo Municipalities (AKM) disputes the assessment of the 2027 draft budget as a record budget for local government. The association’s executive director, Sazan Ibrahimi, says that although the amount allocated to municipalities reaches 908 million euros, their share of the state’s overall budget has decreased.

According to Ibrahimi, municipalities received 21.7 percent of the 2026 budget, while planning for next year lowers this share to 21.3 percent. He told KosovaPress that the budget should also be assessed based on the concrete possibility of implementing investments and capital projects, not only on the overall monetary value.

He also warned that the planned increase in the wage coefficient would affect municipal finances. According to him, inflation in recent years has not been reflected in the planning, even though, based on this year’s statistics, it stood at around 7 percent for several months.

According to Ibrahimi, the 0.4-percentage-point decrease in the municipalities’ share means losses of tens of millions of euros. He called on the Assembly of Kosovo to take local government’s financial demands into account when reviewing the draft budget, since the proposed allocation is insufficient to support sustainable economic development.

Ibrahimi also highlighted the impact of court decisions, mainly those related to collective agreements. This year alone, municipalities have had around 100 million euros taken from them to implement these decisions, while the AKM is calling for the costs to be covered by the central level rather than remaining a burden on municipalities.

He said the payments have affected the budget structure of municipalities and limited capital investment. According to him, they also make it more difficult for municipalities to apply for additional funding from the performance grant, creating cascading consequences that cost hundreds of millions of euros.

The association has requested a meeting with Prime Minister Albin Kurti and the AKM board to discuss these issues, but has not yet received a response. Ibrahimi said the last meeting with Kurti took place in October 2024.

Among the other concerns he raised were flood damage, which has still not been compensated in some municipalities since 2022, as well as the loss of European Union funds.

The Government of Kosovo approved the 2027 draft budget on November 2, with a value of 4.27 billion euros. Of this amount, 908 million euros have been planned for municipalities, while Prime Minister Albin Kurti has described it as a record budget for local government.