The Communes Cannot Perform Their Functions Because They Do Not Have Their Participatory Budget
<p style="line-height: 20.8px;"><span style="line-height: 20.8px;">The City Watchdog detected that most of the activities were made in conjunction with other areas of the central government so that decentralization remains an outstanding account. Consequently, it failed to contribute to the neighborhood identity, it is difficult to gather neighbors for common benefits and there were few advances to hold public hearings.</span></p>
The Directorate General for Coordination and Citizen Participation, "partially complies" with its assignment and functions due to the "lack of functional and financial autonomy," thus, "the decentralization of the communes remains pending."
The report of the Auditor General of the City of Buenos Aires (AGCBA, for its acronym in Spanish) specifies that "in most cases the actions conducted by the agency were in joint with other areas of the central government, without using its own budget.” To this it is added that "few were held jointly with the communes and its main feature being the link between these and the Buenos Aires executive."
The Watchdog assessed the year 2012, during which "was observed actions that give Communes its participatory budget." However, the following year "some tasks were developed in that regard, but without yet achieving -it is no longer centralized."
Among the objectives of the Directorate in question include "public audience organizations to Law No. 6, oversee the implementation of participatory budgeting, strengthen neighborhood identity, manage the Register of Community Action Organizations and implement the transition of the communes," just to mention a few.
In this regard, the analysis adopted in 2015, observed that "no communication between the Directorate General and the heads of the communes, overlapping projects due to lack of planning and no elements to develop the concept of neighborhood identity." Consequently, "it is difficult for neighbors to come together in pursuit of socio-cultural benefits that are common and are associated with that identification."
In 2013 there was a change in the General Directorate of Citizen Participation and the projection in the position presented a report mentioning the activities developed until December 2012. But the AGCBA "could not compare these data" because the name change of the position (before Directorate General for Community Coordination and Public Participation) and who occupies it "was not allowed to work on what exists in the audited period."
To further compare the data provided by the audited body, the AGCBA team requested interviews with six presidents of Communes but "had only response of the leaders from communes 1, 4, 10 and 14."
About the personnel that performs tasks, the Directorate gave "partial" information and the response of Human Resources of the Government of the City on employees was wrong." They "had not expressed its support in the management report of the outgoing official in 2012," so "it became impossible to verify the actual number of staff."