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The tax payment exceeds the municipality’s yearly budget and was made by an unknown individual
Last month local authorities in the Slovenian municipality of Preddvor stumbled upon a surprise of giant proportions. In one of the government’s bank accounts, they discovered an enormous amount of money – a total of 4.7 million euros in tax payments, made by an unknown individual. The money was found in early October but the local authorities decided not to disclose the information to the public until they had decided what to do with it – which happened just last week.
To put things into perspective, the municipality of Preddvor has a population of around 3,500 people. Its annual budget amounts to around 3.4 million euros. When faced with these numbers, it should come as no surprise that local authorities were flabbergasted and lacked a clear idea of what to do with their newfound fortune.
The surprise addition to the municipality’s coffers was revealed when the local government was presenting next year’s budget.
"It took us a while to figure out and change our minds. In such cases, when something so out of the ordinary happens, the greatest danger is to hurry up, because you could do something that might be out of place due to pressures, appetites and expectations," stated Mayor Rok Roblek according to 24ur.com.
After taking all necessary legal precautions and exploring different possibilities, local authorities decided to use the 4.7 million for two main purposes. The first 1.7 million euros will be used to repay the municipality’s loans, while the rest will be split in three tranches over the next three years. These 3 million euros will be spent on investing in different projects in the municipality, according to its current needs.
While the payer will most likely remain unknown due to the rules of fiscal secrecy, the local authorities can hardly contain their joy. “This is more funding than we have had in the budget in years," explained mayor Roblek during the municipal council meeting.
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