Photo: Otzvuk newspaper
The municipal council in Smolyan granted 38 square meters of space in the Youth Center to the Auto-Moto Retro Club association for 50 stotinki per year, including VAT, without a tender and without complying with the current rental rates for municipal properties.
Initially, Mayor Nikolay Melemov proposed that the club be granted a free right of use of the premises in the Youth Center. His argument was that the club is a non-profit organization for the public benefit and has no income.
From free use to a symbolic rent
However, right from the start, municipal councilors warned that this was a direct violation of the Municipal Property Act. “By making this decision, we will be breaking the law,” said Georgi Pepelanov (Our Smolyan) and proposed “some kind of minimum rent, but not to have the regional governor overturn our decision.”
Stoyan Marev (PP-DB) then took the floor. “I also believe that it is not permissible by law (in this case) to establish a right of use free of charge. The basic principle (in the Municipal Property Act) is that this should be done through a tender or competition.” As an exception, it can be free of charge, but only if the public benefit association is expressly specified in the law, he argued. He cited two decisions of the Supreme Administrative Court.
He then asked, “Help me, where in the law does it say that auto and motorcycle clubs have the right to obtain a right of use without a tender or competition?” No one answered. “If all non-profit associations for the public benefit request a room free of charge, will you give it to them and on what grounds?” Marev asked.
The law is silent, the microphone decides
“The only motive was that they have no income, only expenses. But if you decide that they should pay some rent, offer them rent and if they can, let them pay,” the mayor joined the debate. After him, the chairman of the Municipal Council, Dimitar Katsarov, urged the hall: “What Mr. Marev proposed is absolutely reasonable, but we are waiting for a rent proposal.” “The lowest possible, we have a tariff,” Marev suggested. (Our research in the municipal ordinance shows that the rent is BGN 3.40 per square meter per month, excluding VAT).
However, the councilors completely forgot about the tariff in Ordinance No. 4 on municipal property prices. Instead of setting rent at the current rates, they began to make up amounts on the spot. “50 stotinki per square meter, which is what we gave for the photovoltaic site. The idea here is not to make money,” Pepelanov suggested, either jokingly or quite seriously. After a reply from Deputy Mayor Mariana Tsekova, the “bidding” reached “50 stotinki with VAT per year.” And Chairman Dimitar Katsarov formulated the final text: The Municipal Council leases 38 square meters in the Youth Center to the “Auto-Moto Retro Club” for a period of 5 years without a tender or competition, with a rent of 50 stotinki with VAT per year.
Against this backdrop, Mihail Todorov’s (PP-DB) statement was almost overlooked. He reminded that the Youth Center should be a home for youth activities, not a warehouse and office for anything else. According to him, the municipality should not wait for young people to organize themselves, but should offer specific services and spaces for sports, art, and music. The appeal: use your imagination, open rooms for rehearsals and dancing, make the place alive for young people. The decision to charge 50 stotinki per year for rent showed that sympathy for one organization weighs more than any policy for young people.
The price set in motion was voted on with 24 votes in favor, none against, and one abstention. Then the entire decision passed with 23 votes in favor and three against.
The double standard
In this way, the generous municipal councilors and the mayor forgot their obligation to avoid any private interest that could influence their decisions. They did not even remember that just a month ago, the association “Development – XXI Century”, also registered as a public benefit organisation, requested a 17 square metre room on the third floor of the Dentistry building, which it has been using for 10 years. And they voted to lease it after a public auction with sealed bids at an initial price of BGN 3.40 per square meter, excluding VAT.
Mayor Melemov submitted a report at the meeting on October 31, 2025, in which he explicitly proposed that the property be leased again through a public auction with sealed bids, and that the initial rental prices be according to the tariff – 3.40 leva/square meter for NGOs, 4.50 BGN/sq. m for companies, and 2.70 BGN/sq. m for warehouses. The municipal council accepted the proposal and obliged the mayor to conduct the auction.
The conclusion that cannot be ignored is uncomfortable for the councilors, but clear. The Municipality of Smolyan has tariffs, regulations, and laws, but above them stands a stronger rule: sympathies. The paradox is that the same councilors recently updated Regulation No. 4 and adopted new rental prices in euros. However, the Ordinance was not even opened in the hall. No one pointed to the text, no one checked what the actual lowest rent was, and the “lowest possible rate” conveniently melted down to 50 stotinki per year. Thus, it was not the Ordinance but the councilors who took it easy.
The debate also revealed a lack of basic legal knowledge. There was simultaneous debate about rent and property rights, about general principles and exceptions, but no distinctions were ever made. Decisions of the Supreme Administrative Court were cited, and in the end, the majority produced legal impotence bordering on the absurd.
The lack of a clear policy for the Youth Center completed the picture. Some premises are given away for a symbolic penny, others are auctioned off, and still others are turned into banks and shops. Youth infrastructure is discussed in principle, but decisions are made on the basis of sympathy. There is no strategy, only improvisation.
Ultimately, the question is not whether the “Auto-Moto Retro Club” deserves premises. The question is whether the Municipal Council deserves trust when it applies tariffs and procedures to one association and then comes up with 50 cents a year for another. If this is the local parliament’s understanding of legality and equality, citizens have every right to question its capacity.
Whether it was worth the trickery to prevent the regional governor from “reversing the decision” will become clear very soon. With such an obvious discrepancy with its own regulations, it would be more logical to react rather than ignore it with silence. The real question is whether the act will be called by its true name – discriminatory and unfair.
