Schools in Zagreb are in serious financial problems as the city administration has been late for months with funding they need to pay their bills, Jutarnji List daily reported on Wednesday.

In the Croatian education system, state-run elementary and secondary schools are largely funded by local government units.

“Due to the budget deficit encountered upon coming to power, the new city administration is evidently in quite a tight stop and schools are affected,” state agency Hina said, citing Jutarnji List, without clarifying.

The City is currently run by mayor Tomislav Tomasevic, a former left-wing activist who won a local election in May. This marked the end of the 16-year rule of former mayor Milan Bandic, a conservative populist who ran the city since 2005, and who died only three months before the election from a heart attack.

Earlier this month, Tomasevic told reporters that the city and its behemoth utility company Zagreb Holding are about 5 billion kuna (€665 million) in debt .

Headmasters of various schools have confirmed to Jutarnji List that the last payment they had received from the city to pay their electricity bills was in August, to pay the bills for March, and that they received the funding for food in September to pay the bills for April.

Due to the months-long delay, headmasters told Jutarnji List they feared this might lead to shut-offs and potentially seizures over unpaid debts. They are currently reduced to dipping into school’s own accounts to pay the bills, adding that although payments were late in the past as well, the delays were never this serious.

According to Jutarnji List’s estimate, the city funds local schools with about 10 million kuna (€1.3 million) a month, which is the cost of utilities, food, and teaching supplies.

Head of the Association of Secondary School Headmasters, Suzana Hitrec, told Jutarnji List that although members of her association had met with city officials, they were unable to get any clear information on when the payments would become regular again.

“We don’t have money for emergencies… We understand that the city is in a difficult financial situation, but we can’t understand that we are getting no information on when we might get the money,” Hitrec was quoted as saying, adding that “the money some schools have in their bank accounts are mainly funds received for EU-sponsored projects which cannot be used to pay for supplies such as toilet paper.”

(€1 = 7.52 kuna)