Baletić: „Nikodijević is misleading citizens, there is no surplus in the Belgrade budget“

Nenad Baletić stated that the comments Nikola Nikodijević has made in the media in recent days, ahead of the session scheduled for June 25, represent a „political spin“ and a „distortion of the facts.“ According to him, an analysis of the first budget rebalance adopted at the end of February and the proposal for the second rebalance shows that the claim of a „surplus in the budget“ is not accurate. Baletić points out that the proposal for the second budget rebalance states that the City of Belgrade has a budget deficit of 9,438,497,906 dinars.

He said that revenues, compared to the first rebalance, have increased from approximately 178 to 187 billion dinars, but at the same time, expenditures have risen from about 187.5 to 196.4 billion dinars. He specifically highlighted the increase in property tax, which, according to his data, has risen from 26,080,645,351 dinars to 29,749,878,121 dinars. Baletić claims that this is an additional 3.67 billion dinars that Belgrade citizens will pay through property tax, and he sees a similar increase in the item „contribution for the development of construction land,“ which has grown from about 9.5 billion to 11.5 billion dinars.

The statement also notes that „transfers from other levels of government,“ that is, assistance from the republican budget, have increased from 58,400,561 dinars to 1,855,817,922 dinars. Baletić claims that this is not a surplus generated by the work of the Belgrade authorities and city enterprises, but rather funds from the republican budget used to cover budgetary pressure.

It is also stated that „revenues from the sale of non-financial assets“ have increased from 1,648,516,351 dinars to 3,232,516,351 dinars, which Baletić interprets as further reliance on the sale of city assets. According to him, communal fees are rising from 2.92 to 3.37 billion dinars, which means an additional 456 million dinars in burden for Belgrade businesses. Baletić also said that items such as „contracted services“ have increased by more than 5.1 billion dinars, and that more than 1.2 billion dinars of additional funds between the two rebalances, as he claims, are being directed to city loss-makers and private companies. He added that, in his interpretation, „contracted services“ and subsidies to companies have consumed 6.3 billion dinars. Finally, Baletić announced that the NPS will submit a proposal to supplement the agenda of the City Assembly, referring to the findings of the State Audit Institution (DRI) adopted in the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia on June 9, 2026, which for the second time calls for the dismissal of the Mayor of Belgrade and other responsible persons. As he stated, the goal is to open a discussion about the report that the city authorities are trying to suppress from the public.