To exorbitant and arbitrary increases municipal fee Up to 500% are moving on for 2025 the Municipalitiesoverwhelming the monthly operating costs of hundreds of thousands of businesses.
In a letter to the Ministers of the Interior Theodoris Livanos and Development Takis Theodorikakos and the President of the Central Union of Municipalities of Greece Lazaros Kyrizoglou, the President of the Athens Chamber of Commerce Konstantinos Damigos, stresses that the competent services of the Chamber of Commerce, fees.
Each municipality, depending on its financial opportunities and the problems it faces, decides to make increases in the reciprocal cleaning and electricity fees, from 35 to 500%, without calculating the devastating consequences for businesses and citizens who are unable to meet their obligations.
The “headache” of the mayors, to cover their increased operating costs, but also the particularly painful fine of the waste downturn, is transferred to businessmen, who are called upon to put their hand deep into a … empty pocket.
“Business units with investments and jobs of hundreds of people who have been created, licensed and operated as appropriate in a modern business unit, are deeply concerned after the unjustified increase in municipal fees that are called upon to be burdened.
In the context of good administration, these decisions are considered abusive in relation to their immediacy and importance, to the extent that they specify the viability of existing businesses, as there has been no preceding study and consultation with the bodies of each area on such an important issue.
“It is a given that this development will cause a reduction in their competitiveness, as well as the burden of consumers from the passage of the increase in product prices in order for businesses to cover the appropriate costs,” Mr Damigos said.
According to complaints, entrepreneurs have been forced to restrict jobs, or close their facilities in order to be able to pay increased operating costs. It is recalled that the payment of municipal fees is in relation to the area of the business.
The BEA is not contrary to a reasonable increase in municipal fees in order to ensure the financial well -being of the municipalities, provided that it is based on both the data of the current financial situation and on the strict observance of the principle of rewarding of these burdens.
In its letter, the administration of the BEA calls on the political leadership and the head of the municipalities, their intervention, on municipal fees. Specifically:
- The review and rationalization of excessive increases.
- Control of their return for businesses.
- The determination of ceilings of growth (eg inflationary).
- The modernization of their PPC registration system.
- The obligation – appointment of a consultation, with business representatives in the Municipal Board of Directors, prior to their decision to redefine them.