Kirkuk has been operating on minimal funds since last October when Iraqi forces retook control of the disputed province.
Iraqi forces fled Kirkuk in the face of ISIS advances in 2014 and the Peshmerga stepped into secure the city, bringing it under military and administration control of the KRG.
The KRG sent the province $10 million in petro-dollars monthly.
On October 16, Iraqi forces returned to Kirkuk and took control of the province and its oil fields. The central government has, however, failed to send funds to the province.
"Since 2013, the Iraqi government has stopped sending Kirkuk's budget without any legal justification. The only excuse of Baghdad was that most of the top posts in Kirkuk province were controlled by Kurds and this was hard for them to tolerate, so they want to make problems for Kirkuk,” said Rebwar Talabani, acting head of Kirkuk provincial council.
He told Rudaw that Baghdad owes Kirkuk 2 trillion dinars ($1.67 billion) in outstanding budget payments.
KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani recently announced that they have Kirkuk’s petro-dollar payments in a bank account. The funds amount to $51 million, according to Talabani, but he has refused to sign for their withdrawal given the current situation in Kirkuk.
The council is not able to meet quorum as many members, particularly those of the KDP, are boycotting the city that is “occupied” by Iraqi forces.
"Some people keep asking about this $51 million, which we have kept legally until we make sure a good administration is in Kirkuk,” Talabani explained, while noting these same people “do not ask about the budget that Baghdad owes to Kirkuk.”
He asserted that the council had used its $10 monthly budget from KRG to complete 3,000 small and strategic projects in Kirkuk during three years it received the funds.
Under its funding crisis, Kirkuk now has major problems with trash collection and providing electricity.
Ismail Jalal, the director of municipal projects in Kirkuk, said they are now dependent solely on the municipality’s income.
Kirkuk could solve the majority of its trash problem if Baghdad would send the 262 million dinars it had allocated monthly for waste management, Jalal said, adding that "3,080 cleaners work to clean Kirkuk, yet still they need three months to clean Kirkuk fully."
Talabani has lived in Erbil since October. On Sunday, Iraqi judicial authorities issued an arrest warrant for Talabani reportedly because of his role in Kurdistan’s independence referendum and raising the Kurdish flag in Kirkuk.
Speaking to reporters about the arrest warrant, Talabani said the complaint against him is a simple administrative matter since he is receiving a salary as head of the provincial council while filling the role at acting head – a situation he said is legally permitted.
He has been the acting head since 2014, taking up the post when former council chief Hasan Turan, who is Turkmen, ran for Iraqi elections that year.
If there is a problem with his salary, Talabani said that only the provincial council has jurisdiction over the matter, not a judge.
Leader of the KDP Masoud Barzani issued a strong statement in support of Talabani, who is a member of the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU).
“The issuance of an arrest warrant for Rebwar Talabani is to prolong the October 16 treason and such acts of arrest and punishment of patriotic people will not erase the treasons,” read a statement from his office.
“What has been committed against Rebwar Talabani was due to his national, Kurdish, and just attitude and this is a fact all the sides know about,” Barzani added, calling on all “loyal Kurds” to throw their support behind Talabani.
