Debt exceeds budget in Balıkesir: It has reached 12 times the amount!

Examinations into the financial accounts of the Balıkesir Metropolitan Municipality, which passed from the AKP to the CHP in the March 31 local elections, have revealed the gravity of the situation.

DEBT FAR EXCEEDS BUDGET

According to the report by Mustafa Bildircin from BirGün; it was determined that the debt transferred by the former AKP administration to the new management exceeded 15 billion TL.

It was determined that the total debt of the Balıkesir Metropolitan Municipality, which has a 2024 budget of 12 billion TL, is 15.5 billion TL.

CHP Metropolitan Mayor Ahmet Akın said, “We will never say, ‘We inherited a wreck.’ We will not produce excuses, we will produce results. We will create resources to keep all the promises we made, and we will work day and night.”

"JUST BEFORE THE ELECTION..."

According to the information obtained, as soon as CHP's Akın took office, he gave instructions to have a comprehensive study conducted on the financial status of all units of the municipality, including its companies. Within the scope of the study, calculations regarding the debt burden were made item by item in all units belonging to the municipality. Accordingly, it was recorded that the total debt of the Balıkesir Metropolitan Municipality as of March 31, 2024, was 15 billion 428 million 985 thousand TL. It was reported that the general budget debts were 10 billion 766 million 85 thousand TL, BASKİ debts were 3 billion 492 million 819 thousand TL, and the debts belonging to the companies were 1 billion 170 million 79 thousand TL.

It was also stated that the collection rate of the Balıkesir Metropolitan Municipality in the 2023 revenue budget of 9 billion TL, which was passed under the AKP administration, remained at the 57 percent level. It was understood that the AKP administration, which received borrowing authorization for 1.2 billion TL just before the March 31 elections for 2024, used 500 million TL of the limit just before the election.

LION'S SHARE IN DIRECT PURCHASES

It was emphasized that the Balıkesir Metropolitan budget used by the AKP administration gave a deficit of 1 billion 774 million TL in the first three months of 2024. While the number of purchases made through the direct procurement method in the whole of 2023 and the first three months of 2024 reached 3 thousand 40, the number of tenders made through open tender and bargaining procedures remained at 553.

“WE WILL NOT PRODUCE EXCUSES, WE WILL PRODUCE RESULTS”

Balıkesir Metropolitan Mayor Ahmet Akın stated that the people of Balıkesir are facing a huge debt and said the following:

“Among those announced since March 31, the highest debt burden is in the Balıkesir Metropolitan Municipality. However, this situation will not stop us, slow us down, or prevent us from serving Balıkesir with all our might. We will not produce excuses, we will produce results. Despite this much debt, we will take the rights that Balıkesir has not been able to receive until today and return them to our fellow citizens of Balıkesir. We will create resources to keep all the promises we made and to implement our projects completely, and we will work day and night.”

News Source: 12punto