- Visit to Gornji Milanovac together with the Swiss Office for Development and Cooperation (SDC)
The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) representatives and the program team visited the reconstructed facility for children and youth with developmental disabilities in Gornji Milanovac. Gornji Milanovac received funds for the reconstruction of this building, which is part of the “Kralj Aleksandar I” elementary school, from the MED program as one of the five most successful municipalities in Serbia in the field of property tax reform and updating the real estate database. The prize was 300 thousand Swiss francs.
“Switzerland has a development strategy of cooperation with the Republic of Serbia, which provides over 100 million euros in funds. Within that amount is the “Property Tax Reform” project, which is important for municipalities because it gives them a chance to improve their original income, and at the same time it allows them to improve consultations with citizens on how to spend that money,” said Petar Vasilev from the SDC.
The deputy mayor of the municipality, Jadranka Dostanić, says that the works were carried out with high quality and fully meet all the needs of future students.
“This is a project of great importance. We are glad that in a way we have completed the whole journey, from providing the service of a personal companion, through financing various activities for children with disabilities, and now with the renovation of this facility we have united the whole story around them. A building with a living room, a gym, with adapted toilets, equipment that accompanies all of that and professional people who will work with them was created,” said Jadranka Dostanić, deputy mayor of the Municipality of Gornji Milanovac.
Alexander Grunauer, the director of this program, emphasized that he is extremely glad that the municipality together with the citizens decided to renovate this school and that now children will be able to use it.
Gornji Milanovac listed a little less than 5,000 properties that were not on the property tax register until then, and property tax revenue increased by 20 percent.
