Whilst commenting upon the 2017 Tbilisi city budget on air on Rustavi 2, the Mayor of Tbilisi, Davit Narmania, stated: “The amended version of the budget, which will be presented to the City Council shortly, already envisages a decrease in administrative spending by 10%. We had already lowered our spending to about GEL 10 million and now we have decreased it even further. The budget also envisages a 10% decrease in the remuneration fund.”
FactChecktook interest in the Mayor’s statement and attempted to verify it.
Tbilisi City Hall returned the amended version of the 2017 Tbilisi city budget to the City Council for final consideration on 9 December 2016. According to the budget, the funds that the city can draw upon have been set at GEL 801,302,000 with the difference as compared to the 2016 budget (GEL 847,926,000) equalling GEL 46,624,000.
The budget’s administrative spending is mainly concentrated in the remuneration and goods and services budget lines. According to the amended version of the 2017 budget, a total of GEL 87,670,200 has been allocated for remuneration and GEL 126,964,400 for goods and services.
Table 1:
Remuneration for Tbilisi City Council, Tbilisi City Hall Administration, City Services and Municipal Boards in 2016-2017 (GEL Thousand)
| Remuneration | City Council | City Hall Administration | City Services | Municipal Boards | Overall |
| 2016 Plan | 6,865.4 | 5,503.0 | 19,722 | 16,250.9 | 96,900.3 |
| 2017 Projected | 6,618.4 | 4,886.1 | 16,354.9 | 13,361.6 | 87,670.2 |
| Difference | -247 | -616.9 | -3,367.1 | -2,889.1 | -9,230.1 |
According to the amended version of the 2017 Tbilisi city budget, the remuneration budget line is GEL 9,230,100 less than it was in 2016 which constitutes a 10% decrease.
As for the goods and services budget line, its allocation in the period of 2016-2017 looked like this:
Table 2:
Goods and Services of Tbilisi City Council, Tbilisi City Hall Administration, City Services and Municipal Boards in 2016-2017 (GEL Thousand)
| Goods and Services | City Council | City Hall Administration | City Services | Municipal Boards | Overall |
| 2016 Plan | 6,240.1 | 6,348.6 | 1,170 | 3,406.2 | 135,616. 8 |
| 2017 Projected | 5,111.9 | 7,421.6 | 975 | 3,056.3 | 126,964. 4 |
| Difference | -1,128.2 | -927 | -195 | -349.9 | -8,652. 4 |
As the above table reflects, the amount of money allocated for goods and services in 2017 is GEL 8,652,400 less than it was in 2016.
Given the fact that administrative spending is the sum of the remuneration and goods and services budget lines, the 2016 Tbilisi city budget plan allocated a total of GEL 232,517,100 for administrative spending whilst the 2017 Tbilisi city budget designated about GEL 214,634,600 for these purposes. The decrease here is about GEL 17,882,500 which constitutes approximately 8%.
Conclusion
Administrative spending in the budget is concentrated in the remuneration and goods and services budget lines. According to the 2017 Tbilisi city budget, remuneration is about 10% (GEL 9,230,100) less than it was in 2016 whilst the overall administrative spending is being decreased by about 8% which amounts to GEL 17,882,500 in real numbers.
Hence, Davit Narmania’s statement is TRUE.
