Details of Zagreb budget revision: who benefits most

Zagreb plans to add €186.5 million to this year’s budget, taking total spending to €3.3 billion. The proposed revision, scheduled as the first item at the City Assembly’s Sept. 16 session, would increase the budget by 6% compared with the version adopted at the end of 2025.

Most of the new money, €123.4 million, would come from transferring surpluses from previous years. The rest would come from sources including property income, road-use fees and real estate tax. The biggest change on the spending side concerns wages. The city says new collective agreements require an additional €50 million, with nearly €21 million going to employees in preschools and schools. City administration, cultural institutions and firefighters would also receive increases.

Transport operator ZET would receive €27.3 million for new trams and buses, tram reconstruction, bus-wash facilities and contactless-payment validators. The city would also lend ZET €33.4 million to temporarily finance electric-bus purchases until reimbursement from European Union funds.

Other allocations include a €19.7 million subsidy for waste company Čistoća, covering part of the costs of collecting and disposing of plastic packaging and related public services. Another €2.6 million would maintain Holding’s Stoimena Hostel in Crikvenica and make it more attractive to tourists.

The revision also reshuffles capital projects. Funding would fall from €90.8 million to €82.6 million, mainly because the Medpotoki and Heinzelova projects would move from this year to next year. The Gajnice underpass has faced property-rights problems, while the railway along Heinzelova and Radnička remains delayed as the contractor tender process, launched in December 2024, continues. The Greenway “bicycle highway” would also see most of its implementation moved to 2027. Funding would be reduced for the Utrine market renovation, the Oporovec Autism Center, Vrbani Primary School and the Velesajam ice rink, while Paromlin would receive €6 million more and Sarajevska would receive an additional €7 million.