Risk-based assessment of the experiment on collecting resort fees in the Caucasian Mineral Waters

Introduction. An experiment on collecting resort fees from vacationers is being implemented in the Caucasian Mineral Waters in 2018-2024 in accordance with the Federal Law of July 29, 2017 No. 214-FZ “On the Experiment on the Development of Resort Infrastructure in the Republic of Crimea, Altai Krai, Krasnodar Krai and Stavropol Krai”. The practice is not new; it existed in various forms both in pre-revolutionary and Soviet legislation. At the same time, the best practices of previous periods were not taken into account in this experiment at the present stage. It provokes a number of social, economic, commercial, environmental and other risks for the successful functioning of the resort fee institution and the resorts of the Caucasian Mineral Waters as a whole as the most important balneological treatment and rehabilitation base of federal significance.
Materials and Methods. In the process of studying the experiment on introducing a resort fee in the Caucasian Mineral Waters and assessing its effectiveness, methods of analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, logical, prognostic and comparativehistorical methods were used, including expert assessment and other methods of scientific knowledge. These methods were used within the framework of a risk-oriented approach, which made it possible to identify various risks arising from the imperfection of the legal institution of resort fees.
Analysis. The study of legislation and the practice of its application in the field of resort fee collection in the specially protected ecological and resort region Caucasian Mineral Waters revealed a number of problems inherent in the modern system of public management of these resorts of federal significance. It is necessary to note the shortcomings of the regulatory framework determining the features of resort fee collection - both at the federal and regional levels.
Results. The conducted analysis allowed us to identify negative trends inherent in the resort fee institution. These are the absence of criteria for the efficiency of spending the collected funds (corruption risks), excessive bureaucratic burden of servicing the resort fee imposed by law on its operators, and at the same time the imperfection of the institution of administrative responsibility for violations in this area (commercial risks for legal entities and individual entrepreneurs), poor public awareness and the absence of effective feedback from the state to payers of the resort fee (information risks), insufficient consideration of the interests of socially vulnerable categories of citizens (social risks) and other.

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