TRANSITION TO A SINGLE-LEVEL SYSTEM MUNICIPALITIES: CONSEQUENCES FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Abstract

In 2022, a large-scale reform of local self-government began: a corresponding bill was submitted to the State Duma. It provides for the embedding of local self-government into a single system of public authority in the Russian Federation, reforming the territories of municipalities and the powers of local self-government. The article examines the problem of transition to a single-level model of local self-government with the rejection of the settlement level, proposed by the legislator. Based on the analysis of the previous experience of municipal construction in the Russian Federation, foreign experience, statistical data, scientific concepts, expert opinions, the necessity of the presence of local governments at the level of settlements, the inadmissibility of liquidating the settlement level of local self-government is proved. The statement is substantiated that all the problems of the settlement level lie not in the organizational, but in the financial plane. The issue of the status of village elders and territorial public self-government bodies is raised in connection with their new powers and the need to increase this status from public amateur bodies to local governments. It is argued that the transfer of powers of local self-government to state authorities will not lead to a more effective solution of issues of local importance, since it will not reduce the costs of solving these issues, will not reduce the number of managerial personnel, but will only change the budget from which these expenses will be carried out, therefore, the solution of the issue - in the redistribution of public finances in favor of local budgets. The necessity of preserving settlements, the need to stop the process of reducing the number of municipalities, based on the geopolitical position of the Russian Federation, is substantiated. Ways of solving personnel and financial issues in order to preserve rural settlements are proposed.