When 24 former staff of Pljevlja’s Municipal Housing Fund discovered that their salaries had vanished, the quiet municipality erupted into a scandal that exposed a web of patronage and procedural blindness. What began as a handful of unpaid wages grew into a case that forces the city to confront the very mechanisms that keep its public finances afloat.
On 31 December 2024 the Municipal Assembly passed a resolution to pay 12 of the 24 unpaid workers a total of €90 856. Yet a year later, in December 2025, those salaries remain unpaid. Former employees have taken to the streets and the press, demanding that the city honour its promise. Saša Ječmenica, an independent councilor, has branded the Assembly’s decision “unlawful” and “contrary to the Constitution”, arguing that it masks a deeper political manipulation. Zoran Ančić, a former municipal employee, echoed the frustration, noting that the decision “was never published in the Official Gazette, so there is no legal basis for the payment”. Their testimony underscores that the root of the problem lies not in a simple clerical error but in a system that allows money to be withheld without recourse.
The MHF’s payroll system is a relic of pre‑digital governance, relying on spreadsheets and manual journal entries. The spreadsheets, which calculate wages, are not linked to any automated payment gateway; the journal entries simply record the expense in accounting books. This separation means that a mistake in the spreadsheet or a deliberate alteration can prevent a bank transfer, yet the entry still appears as a paid expense. The lack of an automated trigger, combined with the absence of dual‑signature approval or automated alerts, created a “spiritual” loophole where wage calculations could be delayed or misapplied with little chance of detection.
Oversight – both internal and external – is effectively non‑existent. There is no evidence of a functioning internal audit or payroll review process within the MHF. External watchdogs, including the State Audit Institution, Parliament, and the Ministry of Finance, have not intervened or highlighted any irregularities. The scandal, therefore, unfolded in a vacuum, unchallenged by the very institutions that are supposed to guard public money.
The political actors at the heart of the crisis add another layer of complexity. On 18 December 2025, civil engineer Nenad Rubežić and Saša Ječmenica filed a criminal complaint against several municipal power officials over an ecological reconstruction project. Their ability to bring legal action against public officials demonstrates their influence over municipal resources and decision‑making. Yet the same influence can, in theory, be used to shield misconduct, especially when the lines between political patronage and public administration blur.
The unpaid‑wage scandal is not an isolated incident. The municipal assembly’s unanimous request for national intervention in the Ada Sports Centre (SCADA) crisis – a request that cites debts exceeding €500 000 – illustrates the city’s reliance on external funding to resolve fiscal distress. The same political dynamics that allow the MHF to neglect payroll obligations also drive the city to seek state aid for unrelated projects, signalling a systemic fragility in local governance.
Ultimately, the case of Pljevlja’s Municipal Housing Fund is a stark reminder that weak administrative practices, absent oversight, and entrenched political power can combine to erode public trust. Without a shift to automated payroll systems, transparent audit trails, and a culture of accountability that transcends individual interests, municipal workers will continue to be left unpaid, and the city will remain vulnerable to the very corruption it purports to fight.
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