Council of the capital city of Warsaw

COUNCIL OF THE CAPITAL CITY OF WARSAW – the decision-making and control body of the capital-city government, comes from universal, equal, direct election conducted by secret ballot. It makes decisions about the most important matters of the city and supervises the activities of the president of Warsaw. The council consists of 60 councillors elected in the universal, equal, direct election conducted by secret ballot. The activities of the council of the c.c. of Warsaw are directed by the chairman elected from among the members of the council, who together with the vice-presidents forms the so-called presidium of the council. The status of the council of the c.c. of Warsaw is distinguished by the fact that its rules of functioning and powers are regulated, apart from the general acts concerning the system of local government, by a separate legal act – the so-called detailed regulation. The exclusive competences of the c.c. of Warsaw council include: constituting local law, including the adoption of the statute of the c.c. of Warsaw; passing the statutes of districts of the c.c. of Warsaw; determining the remuneration of the president of the c.c. of Warsaw; making decisions about the direction of his/her actions and accepting reports on his/her activity; appointing and dismissing of the treasurer of c.c. of Warsaw (at the request of the president of the c.c. of Warsaw); passing the budget of the c.c. of Warsaw, examining the report on implementation of the budget and adopting a resolution on granting or not the vote of acceptance in this regard. Among the competences of the c.c. of Warsaw council is the adoption of resolutions concerning: taxes and fees within the limits specified in separate laws; study of conditions and directions of spatial development of the municipality and local spatial development plans; economic programs; development programmes in accordance with the regulations of the rules of development policy; the scope of activities of auxiliary units, the rules of transferring the components of the assets for them to use and the principles of transferring budgetary resources for the fulfilment of their tasks. In addition, resolutions regarding assets of the municipality, which exceed the scope of ordinary management, concerning: the principles of acquiring, disposing and encumbering the property and their renting or leasing for a definite period longer than three years or for an indefinite period; issuing bonds and defining rules for their sale, purchase and redemption; incurring long-term loans and credits; setting the maximum amount of loans and short-term loans taken by the president of the city in the budget year; commitments for investment and repairs exceeding the limit established annually by the board; creating and joining unions, associations and foundations; creating and acceding companies and cooperatives and their dissolution and withdrawal from them; defining the rules for bringing, withdrawing and disposing of shares and stocks; creating, liquidating and reorganising of enterprises, establishments and other municipal organisational units and equipping them with property; setting the maximum amount of loans and sureties granted by the president during the financial year; determining the amount to which the president can himself contract. Another group of entitlements includes the adoption of resolutions concerning: acceptance of tasks in the scope of government administration; cooperation with other municipalities and counties and allocation of appropriate assets for this purpose; cooperation with local and regional communities of other countries and joining international associations of local and regional communities; naming of streets and squares being public roads or naming internal roads, as well as the erection of monuments; granting honorary citizenship of the c.c. of Warsaw; establishing the principles for granting scholarships to pupils and students. The competences of the c.c. of Warsaw council also include the adoption of resolutions on the crime prevention programme and the protection of security of citizens and public order; anti-unemployment programme and activation of the local labour market; assessing the state of fire safety and flood protection in the c.c. of Warsaw; decision-making in other matters restricted by law to the competence of the municipality council and the county council (the c.c. of Warsaw council combines the powers of both of these councils) (→ decision-making and control body of local government) [ J. Wojnicki ].

Literature: S. Faliński, Warszawski samorząd terytorialny w latach 1990–2002: geneza, ustrój, idee ustrojowe, aktywność [Warsaw local government in years 1990-2002: genesis, system, systemic ideas, and activity], Warszawa 2013 ■ M. Kulesza, Budowanie samorządu [Building local government], Warszawa 2008 ■ M. Niziołek, Problemy ustroju aglomeracji miejskich [Problems of the system of urban agglomerations], Warszawa 2008.