Network of Associations of Local Authorities of South-East Europe

Fiscal Decentralization Indicators for South-East Europe

26/03/2012 07:07:42

This report has been prepared by the Fiscal Decentralization Task Force of the Network of Associations of Local Authorities of South East Europe (NALAS). Its purpose is to provide national and local policy makers, researchers, and interested outside observers with reliable comparative data on municipal finances and intergovernmental fiscal relations in South East Europe.

Like its object of analysis, the report is a work in progress. It represents a first attempt by NALAS to assemble from its member associations basic data on fiscal decentralization. Over time, NALAS hopes to expand and deepen the analysis in response to requests and suggestions from both member associations and interested observers. For the moment, however, the report provides a snap shot of the structure, functions, and financing of local governments in South East Europe, as well as an overview of how intergovernmental financial relations have evolved over the economically turbulent period 2006-2010.

The report is divided into four sections. It begins with a brief discussion of the data and some of the methodological issues surrounding its use and interpretation. It then presents basic information about the size and structure of municipal governments in South East Europe, as well a few key macro-economic indicators. The report continues by examining the composition of local government revenues and expenditures and concludes with a few observations about trends over the last five years.

NALAS-FDIndicators.pdf

Fiscal Decentralisation Task Force Meeting in Ljubljana, 11-12 July 2011

17/07/2011 07:08:18

NALAS Task Force on Fiscal Decentralisation met in Ljubljana 11-12 July to hold conceptual discussions on the role and interests of the TF in the next several years.

The members agreed to work on producing periodical overview of intergovernmental finances in South East Europe by analyzing several comparative indicators like local government expenditures as a % of the GDP and total public expenditures, capital expenditures at local level as a % of the GDP and public expenditures in each country of the region, local government revenues by structure, etc.

The TF members made thorrow insights in the topics of non-tax revenues, intergovernmental finance negotiations, multiyear planning and budgeting. These areas of local finances will be among the priority topics of the Task Force in the next years.

An important aspect of the meeting was brainstorming about new forms of products, new ways of their dissemination as well as new ways of interaction of the Task Force. A special attention was set on reaching the municipal level as close as possible and therefore increasing the impact of the TF activities.

Available downloads:
Meeting Agenda
Meeting Report
Presentation by Mr Tony Levitas
List of participants

Guidelines on Local Government Borrowing

22/02/2011 05:18:30

This publication contains best experiences available in the region of South East Europe in debt financing and managing complex capital investment projects.
Improved information is intended also to lead to proposals for changes in laws and regulations that are restricting local borrowing in some countries. In this guide the project team analyzed recent trends (2010) in local government borrowing in Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Republika Srpska – BiH, Romania, Serbia and Turkey.

Fiscal Decentralization Task Force Meeting in Sofia, 14-15 December 2010

31/01/2011 06:48:23

The main pillars of this meeting hosted by NAMRB were: a) exchange of updates between the members on the current issues in fiscal decentralization in their countries; b) update on the progress of the project on Municipal Borrowing and promotion of the capacity building component and c) further development of the project ideas selected and prioritized at the meeting in Skopje: Non-tax Revenues, Multiannual and Participatory Budgeting and Budget negotiations II.

Fiscal Decentralization Task Force Meeting in Skopje, 28-29 June 2010

31/01/2011 06:45:41

The NALAS Task Force on Fiscal Decentralization meeting took place in Skopje, Macedonia on 28-29 June. The main topic on the meeting’s agenda was the presentation and discussion of the NALAS Final Report on Developing a Municipal Finance Database in South Eastern Europe: the Preparatory Phase. During the meeting, the report was improved with the input of the participants and two ideas for follow-up phases were developed. Also, other three new projects ideas on different topics related with the most pressing issues in NALAS countries were selected from a bigger number of ideas to be further developed by the experts/associations that took commitment to write the first draft of the projects.

Sofia Declaration on Enforcing the political neutrality and independence of Local Government Associations

11/9/2010 8:27:15 AM

In some countries in South East Europe the unity of national associations was challenged in the past few months: new associations were established, while the national associations, members of NALAS network, lost considerable part of their membership. Therefore, the Presidents at their meeting in Sofia expressed their concern about such tendencies of fragmentation of national associations in the region. A political declaration was adopted by the Presidents who agreed that the message coming from NALAS should be widely disseminated in all SEE countries.

NALAS Sofia Declaration

Fiscal Decentralization, Options for Donor Harmonisation

22.06.2010 14:14:03

Since the beginning of the 1990s, most developing countries have embarked in a process of subsequent decentralization, combining political, administrative and fiscal aspects. In this context, the Secretariat of the Development Partners Working Group on Local Governance and Decentralization (DPWG-LGD) has commissioned a desk study in the area of Fiscal Decentralization with a focus on local taxation, in order to produce recommendations on two levels: (i) Simplification and optimization of fiscal systems and (ii) harmonization of development partners’ interventions. The desk study has been conducted by an individual consultant from Germany and used sources of information provided by the working group members as well as other sources from her professional experience. Reference is made to positive as well as negative experience in a range of countries, including states at different stages of fiscal decentralization. With regard to revenue generation at sub-national levels, the focus is on real property tax and market fees and taxes. Selected examples regarding innovative modalities for performance-based grants, sub-national borrowing and public-private partnerships are also analyzed.

Disaster for the municipalities

22.06.2010 14:12:41

Pforzheim is a town of nearly 119 000 inhabitants in the state of Baden-Württemberg, southwest Germany. It is world-famous for its jewelry and watch-making industry. Because of that it gained the nickname "Goldstadt" or Golden City. It has an area of 98 km² and is situated between the cities of Stuttgart and Karlsruhe. Unfortunately, lately the city is becoming famous for another thing. On 5 January 2010, "Die Welt" published a story of a long struggle of the town Mayoress and her city treasurer that may lead to a legendary loss of 77.5 million euro in the years 2014-2017. The translated version of the story is available at the link below.

Resolution of the Presidium of the German Association of Towns and Municipalities of 1 December 2009

16.12.2009 13:10:52

The impacts of the financial and economic crisis are increasingly being felt in the cities and towns. Tax revenues heavily drop, while social expenditure is exploding. Municipalities are to look after children and ensure security, rehabilitate schools and eliminate waste water, pay social welfare benefit and strengthen local crafts - in short, provide an attractive environment. The gap between the collapsing revenues and skyrocketing costs of the municipalities will become wider in the next few years. The financial crisis is already determined policy decisions. Given this precarious situation, the German cities and municipalities are calling for a recue system and sustainable municipal consolidation package. Click below to read the whole document.

Cost Estimation of Municipal Services of South East Europe

22.06.2010 14:03:33

As a result of the awareness of the new needs for local authorities in South East Europe, the NALAS Task Force on Fiscal Decentralization gathered experts and resources to develop cost estimation model of mainstream municipal services. This publication offers methods of cost estimation of municipal services that include operational (investment) costs,are simple and relatively easy to apply and still allow country-specific adjustments.