At a meeting of the standing committees of the Voronezh City Duma, the next report of the Chamber of Control and Accounts was presented. This time, deputies were presented with the results of an audit of the effectiveness of providing property support to small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) within the framework of the municipal program “Economic Development and Innovative Economy” in 2022 and the current period of 2023.
Under the terms of the program, the city provides municipal premises to representatives of SMEs for rent for a period of at least 5 years using preferential rates: in the first year the entrepreneur pays 20% of the total rental amount, in the second – 40%, in the third – 60%, in the fourth – 80 % and in the fifth – 100%. At the moment, the list includes 39 non-residential premises for these purposes. In the period under review, 12 more were added to it, and five were excluded due to their redemption or breakdown. Of the 39 premises, 23 are rented, another 16 are empty.
But of these 16 premises, most – 10 – are not suitable for business activities. We are talking about basements in apartment buildings that are in disrepair. The authorities put these premises up for auction more than once, but there were no willing buyers. For some, lease agreements were concluded, but were quickly terminated due to accidents.
And according to the law, if the premises are not claimed at auction within two years, it must be excluded from the list of property to be provided to SMEs. Guided by this norm, the PSC sent to the Department of Property and Land Relations (UIZO) a proposal to exclude these premises from the list and a requirement to add new objects to the list – suitable for doing business.
The audit showed that the UIZO regularly holds tenders to find tenants, and the income of the city treasury is growing, and the costs of maintaining empty premises are decreasing. But the audit revealed that the responsible structural unit of the mayor’s office did not organize appropriate control over the use of the premises for their intended purpose and did not always coordinate redevelopment in them.
The PSC recommended that the city authorities make changes to the procedure for providing property support, especially in terms of establishing requirements for registering a SME recipient of support with the tax authorities in Voronezh, identifying groups of small and medium-sized businesses and types of activities to be supported, and establishing the purposes for using premises , based on the priorities for the development of the city’s economy and social sphere.
The PCB report states that at the moment these issues have not been resolved, which reduces the effectiveness of providing assistance to SMEs. Work to eliminate shortcomings by the mayor’s office is carried out as planned and is under constant control of the chamber. And the deputies, by a majority vote, removed this issue from parliamentary control.
