Decentralization of decision-making on the availability of essential public goods for regional and local level raises questions regardless of ability to ensure or guarantee the supply by the small municipalities. It affects the delicate problem of fiscal decentralization and own limits of decentralization process. In this paper, we deal with problems concerning primarily the development of small municipalities as independent public corporations, their ability to play the self-government role and to ensure the availability of essential public goods and services. The main criteria for defining small rural communities are the population and the status of municipality in the settlement structure, which is a predetermined by range of services provided at territory of municipality (market services, public services) to its citizens and residents of surrounding villages. We deal with problems of financing small communities, their participation in the distribution of revenue from shared taxes, the availability of other resources. We monitor the factors that enter into models of reallocation of public resources. We base their findings mot only on information from literature, but also from terrain research, which not only confirmed some previously published facts, but allowed to reveal the factors that significantly affect the financial situation of small municipalities. This led to the determination of parameters, the key mechanism for setting the allocation of public resources. On the basis of the investigation, we analyze the parameters, the key mechanism for setting the allocation of public resources. In conclusion, the authors summarize the main issues and articulate the principles that should be respected in the formulation and adjustment of the budget determination.
Open access
Regional Development and Policy
Polish socio-economic development
Hungarian Social, Economic and Educational Studies
Describing the process of public sector decentralization is a aim of the article. Increasing the responsibility and competence of local government units is aimed at a taken of decentralization process of the sector of the public finance. Thanks to granted competence, the local authority together with the community take decisions concerning the path of the development of given local government unit. In the article tasks and competence of government units on different level were discussed. Also critically, issues connected with financial resources of local government units and the connection of these resources with the expenses side were presented.
Viktória Vásáry, Andrea Elekes, Péter Halmai, Vasary, Viktoria · 6 authors
Can we agree fully with the statement, that “agricultural spending is a major distorting factor in the EU economy and a distinct obstacle to the Lisbon agenda’s implementation”? (Gros, 2008) Is it without question that Europe’s agriculture is in position to become sustainable and competitive without certain kind of common policy with no Community financing? Is it unambiguous in every respect, that the challenges facing the sector – globalization, trade liberalization, climate change, water management, Lisbon process, enlargement, changing preferences – could be answered at national level utilizing exclusively national financial sources? The answers to these questions are complex. So the purpose of the paper is multiple: - Exploration of factors justifying community level intervention. – Could be applied the bottom line of the “decentralization theorem” to budgetary questions and needs of the agricultural policy? According to our hypothesis the answer is considered yes. - Assessing present CAP - taking into account its ability to provide EU wide public goods (multifunctional elements serve in deed significant cross-border externalities) and to create EU value added. - Making an attempt to redefine EU’s agricultural policy through exploring objectives having a greater impact by being implemented at the supranational level and not at other secondary decision levels. – Making an attempt to outline a Common Rural Policy, a policy promoting the provision of public goods required by the society by means of targeted and decoupled economic policy measures. In order to attain the objectives of the paper we apply the theory of fiscal federalism, make analysis on EU public finances in a broader context.
The author explains mechanism of local economy functioning and distinguishes three sets in this mechanism: decentralized, centralized and mixed sets. Taking into account conditions of local economy functioning, in which local authorities are decisive subjects (local administration and people's councils) the author formulates an opinion that postulates on decentralization, which are stated in discussions, practically refer to substitution of centralized set with mixed set — and not decentralized one — of local economy. Centralized set can not be fully abolished even when mixed set is a predominating set of local economy functioning. Anyway it does not eliminate the possibility of competence expansion of leading local authorities. In such situation decentralized set of local economy functioning, in strict meaning of the word, can play a marginal role only. The author considers in a broad way the role played by financial factor in local economy functioning. A special attention is paid to dissimilarity of financing principles in particular sets of this economy, because efficiency of the reform considerably depends on proper knowledge about these principles.
The principles of unity and complexity introduced into the Polish State budget in 1951 are no longer fully observed. In particular, certain funds administered by local councils have appeared gradually in the last years, on the basis of the budget law of 1958 which admitted making some budget expenses dependent on definite budget revenues. Moreover, some funds have been created outside the local budgets. These deserve special attention as a new phenomenon which becomes increasingly important for the local councils activities and especially for councils of the lowest level. The development of decentralized funds seems to be desirable firstly in the economic micro-regions, such as villages and towns, in order to accelerate their development. The augmentation of the role of decentralized funds would also be advisable in counties and provinces provided they constitute regions with specific economic structure. Decentralized funds should be first of all used to finance local investments, the more so that this would be in accordance with the main destination of the funds already administered by local councils. In this way, decentralized funds could in the future be transformed into the local investment budgets. The considerable development of decentralized funds in this country, in particular of those of the lowest level of local administration, seems, moreover, to prove that local budgets at this level, which since 1951 have been incorporated into the State budget, are not fully adequate for financing local councils activities. This suggests that a reform of local budgets of the lowest level is advisable, which would make their administration more similar to that of decentralized funds. The author considers in detail the perspectives and conditions of s'uch a reform of the local budgets of the lowest level, as well as the prospects and conditions of further development of the decentralized funds if no budget reform takes place. He discusses especially the links between decentralized funds and local budgets in this last case. The other subject of the author's consideration is the advisability of financing the local councils activities by bank credit or by credit granted by central funds administered by budget authorities