Collection of entrance fee in Logar Valley lacks...

Collection of entrance fee in Logar Valley lacks appropriate legal basis.



The Court of Audit issued a negative opinion to the Municipality of Solčava for operations in 2015, as it had prescribed the collection of a municipal fee for entry into the Logar Valley Landscape Park without legal grounds.



Based on the concluded concession agreement, in 2015 the company Logarska dolina collected the municipal fee for entry and viewing of the Logar Valley Landscape Park, to which the Court of Audit issued an opinion with reservation after reviewing operations in 2015, while issuing a negative opinion to the Municipality of Solčava for that year in the part relating to the mentioned municipal tax.



As established by the Court of Audit, Solčava prescribed the entrance fee for entry and viewing of the Logar Valley Landscape Park as a municipal tax, for which it had no legal basis either in the law on local government financing or in other public finance regulations.



According to the Court of Audit's findings, the Municipality of Solčava also did not approve detailed rules for charging the entrance fee, did not agree with the company Logarska dolina on the use of half of the entrance fee revenues, did not coordinate on the proposal for the distribution of projected total entrance fee revenues prepared by the company, which the municipal council did not approve. It also did not perform supervision over the implementation of the concession agreement, the court found.



For the company Logarska dolina, the court issued an opinion with reservation because it found that it charged entrance fees to motorhome drivers that were not specified in the 2015 activity plan nor in the act determining the rules for charging entrance fees. The mentioned activity plan was prepared late, it did not notify the municipality by November 15, 2015, of the amount of entrance fee revenues in 2015, and did not prepare the annual report on the use of entrance fee revenues for 2015 by March 15, 2016.



Solčava did terminate the concession agreement with the company Logarska dolina in December 2015 because it did not fulfill contractual obligations from the concession agreement, and the concession relationship ended after the one-year notice period expired. The fee has been collected by the municipal internal service since 2017, but the legal basis for such collection of the fee or entrance fee is still not regulated.



Municipality acted in good faith

Mayor of Solčava Katarina Prelesnik said that they acted in good faith at the municipality, believing it was a municipal tax and that they were doing the right thing, especially since the collected funds are returned to the landscape park or to investment in summer and winter tourism in the park, although the entrance fee is not collected in winter.



According to her, the problem is that under the Nature Conservation Act, Logar Valley has been designated as a natural feature of national importance since 2004. "Therefore, it is the state that must first conclude a written agreement with the municipality so that it can manage the landscape park. Once this written agreement is concluded, the municipality can collect the entrance fee for the preservation and arrangement of access to these natural attractions," she explained.



Solčava also sent a proposal to the government and the Ministry of the Environment on June 12 this year for the conclusion of an agreement on the protection of natural features of national importance in the Logar Valley Landscape Park. The first meeting with state representatives is scheduled for August 20, said the mayor of the municipality, where they have sought legal assistance to regulate this relationship, and it is to be regulated following the model of the management of the Debeli rtič Landscape Park.



Source: http://www.rtvslo.si/lokalne-novice/stajerska/pobiranje-vstopnine-v-logarsko-dolino-nima-ustrezne-pravne-podlage/461077