Mayor of Bratislava Andrej Durkovsky insists that the Bill on Bratislava, which the Cabinet will be approving over the coming weeks, also enact funding from the state budget for the Slovak capital as a political, cultural, commercial and communal center of Slovakia. The mayor told SITA that he has imminent interest to ensure that the state finances at least a portion of functions that the city serves, as they are anchored in its status. He mentioned the care of approximately 180,000 people commuting to work in Bratislava on a daily basis, or almost 60,000 students from all over the country. The issue of city transport deserves special attention, according to Mr. Durkovsky, as Bratislava residents de facto subsidize people commuting to the capital. The mayor estimates the annual amount that the city needs for these additional functions at SKK 1 billion (EUR 33.19 million).
Mr. Durkovsky was reacting to the stance of the Finance Ministry to an amendment to the Law on Bratislava, shaped by three deputies of the governing coalition. The ministry wrote in its stance that it basically does not agree with the proposed model of financing the country's capital. It argues that funding from state coffers would be at odds with the principles of fiscal decentralization. The ministry wrote that within fiscal decentralization a special coefficient was set for Bratislava for distribution of proceeds for personal income tax, which financially secures the status of the city of Bratislava as the capital of the Slovak Republic. The ministry further noted that the state budget for the next and subsequent years does not count on the allocation of finances for these purposes.