A reader sent a question to the Ministry of Finance said: After implementing the 2-level local government model, public service units with financial autonomy group 2, with the function of serving inter-commune public interests (such as public lighting, green park care, waste collection) were previously managed by the district level, now assigned to the People's Committee of the commune where their headquarters are located for management.
Readers wonder: When developing a commune-level budget estimate for 2026 for regular expenditures (for example, paying for lighting and green park care), does the People's Committee of the commune need to make a general budget for neighboring communes served by the unit? Or must public service units make separate estimates for each activity for each commune? And what legal regulations should this comply with?
Responding to readers' questions, the Ministry of Finance cited the provisions of Clause 9, Article 9 of the State Budget Law and Law No. 56/2024/QH15: the budget of each level is only used for the tasks of that level, the budget of this locality is not spent on the tasks of another locality, except for some special cases such as natural disasters, disasters, epidemics or regional linkage projects.
Accordingly, regular expenditures on public activities (such as lighting and tree care) arising in any commune are the expenditure task of that commune. The People's Committee of a commune must synthesize it into the expenditure estimate of its commune, not make a general estimate for many communes.
Regarding the preparation of estimates for public service units in group 2, specifically regulated in:
Article 32 of Decree 60/2021/ND-CP on the financial autonomy mechanism of public service units.
Article 12 of Circular 56/2022/TT-BTC detailing the mechanism for financial autonomy and financial handling when arranging and dissolving units.
Accordingly, public service units are responsible for developing revenue and expenditure estimates, sending them to higher management agencies for appraisal, synthesis and transfer to the same-level financial agency according to regulations.
The Ministry of Finance affirmed: The People's Committee of the commune only makes estimates for the regular expenditure of its commune. Public service units need to prepare separate estimates for each activity according to the locality for submission, ensuring compliance with legal regulations on the budget.
