THE PRESENTATION OF THE CROATIAN OPEN LOCAL BUDGET INDEX FOR EACH

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1 THE PRESENTATION OF THE CROATIAN OPEN LOCAL BUDGET INDEX FOR EACH CITY The main purpose of this section is to give a closer insight into the disclosure of local budget information and openness to the public for each city. Therefore, for each city a short analysis has been written based on our Questionnaire (see Annex A) and the recommendations for the local budget transparency improvement. The report for each city consists of three paragraphs and two tables: The first paragraph gives analysis of results according to the Main COLBI, where we comment on the existence of local budget documents, together with quality of information presented within. The second paragraph gives analysis of results according to the Additional COLBI e.g. comments on availability of various documents on the web page (budget documents, local gazette, Statute of the city, City Council Rules of Procedure, etc.). The third paragraph interprets city s rank according to the Total COLBI and concretely suggests how to improve the local budget transparency in each city. Table 1 provides information on public availability of the most important local budget documents with document s original names and location links (in case they were web-published). As most of websites are often updated or redesigned, the date when these links were last checked has been given. Table 2 is our Questionnaire containing the responses for each city. 1

2 The Institute of Public Finance, Zagreb in collaboration with the CBPDP-IBPD, Washington has assessed budget transparency in 33 Croatian cities. More information on this project can be found at This report contains the results for KUTINA Population: 24,600 Main COLBI: 1 66 / rank 8 Additional COLBI: 78 / rank 26 Total COLBI: 70 / rank 13 *Availability of local budget information Main COLBI = 66 (rank 8). Kutina is among the cities providing fairly detailed information in the budget documents. It has also published a Citizens Budget for 2010, which represents a very good practice in involving citizens in the budgeting process. However, there is still room for improvement, because, as with most of the cities, there are no data on the city's total outstanding debt, and the 2010 Budget Proposal with Projections, for example, lacks the explanations of revenues and expenditures and the functional classification of expenditures. *A local unit's openness to the public Additional COLBI = 78 (rank 26). The official website contains the official gazette archives (for the period ) that can be easily searched by means of a search engine. It also contains the City Council s Rules of Procedure, the city's Statute, and various forms and decisions relating to utility services, construction and agriculture. Citizens are allowed to attend the City Council s meetings. All major budget documents are available on the website, including the agendas of the City Council meetings that are open to the public. All four respondents replied to the Survey (the information officer, head of the Finance Department and two members of the Finance Committee). Kutina does not have a Committee on Budget Issues, and it took us more than 15 days to obtain this information from the LEXE. *Total budget transparency Total COLBI =70 (rank 13). Notwithstanding the good score on the 'availability of local budget information', Kutina still does not rank high on the total list, mostly on account of the non-existence of a Committee on Budget Issues and long time lags in responses from the LEXE. The Budget Proposal with Projections lacks the projections and explanations of macroeconomic indicators underlying the proposal, as well as the descriptions of various kinds of revenues and expenditures for the current budget year. Otherwise, Kutina would certainly rank among top ten cities for local budget transparency. 1 A maximum value of each COLBI is

3 Table 1. Document availability Type of Document Budget Proposal (BPD) Adopted Budget (AB) Adopted Projections (AP) Adopted Decision on Budget Execution (ADBE) Half-Year Report (HYR) Year-End Report (YR) Citizens Budget (CB) Document produced? *Internet links checked on 30/04/2010 Title of the document; Date of issue; Internet link* BPD1: Nacrt proračuna 2010.; 08/12/10; BPD2: Proračun 2010.; 08/12/10; Proračun Grada Kutine za 2010 godinu; 17/12/09; Projekcija prihoda i rashoda proračuna Grada Kutine za razdoblje ; Date not available; Odluka o Izvršenju Proračuna Grada Kutine za godinu; 17/12/09; Polugodišnji obračun Proračuna Grada Kutine za godinu; 29/09/09; Godišnji obračun proračuna grada Kutine za godinu; 31/03/09; Konsolidirani proračun grada Kutine za godinu; Date not available; Table 2. Questions and responses for the City of Kutina Questions 1 to 12: Proposed and adopted budget documents and RBY=2010 Q1. Do the proposed and adopted budget documents present expenditures for RBY classified by economic classification? : p. 3-7 Q2. Do the proposed and adopted budget documents present expenditures for RBY by functional classification? Q3. Do the proposed and adopted budget documents present expenditures for RBY for individual programs? : p Q4. Do the proposed and adopted budget documents present tax revenues from different sources for RBY? : p. 1 Q5. Do the proposed and adopted budget documents present grants for RBY? : p. 1 Q6. Do the proposed and adopted budget documents present non-tax revenues from different sources for RBY? : p. 1-2 Q7. Do the proposed and adopted budget documents present information on outstanding debt? : p. 5, 8, 10 Comment: Information on principal repayment in BY is present Q8. Do the proposed and adopted budget documents present information on payments of interest on debt for the RBY? : p. 3, 7, 10 Q9. Q10. Do the proposed and adopted budget documents contain macroeconomic forecasts upon which the budget figures are based? Citation: BPD2: p. 5 Do the proposed and adopted budget documents contain verbal descriptions (explanations) of various expenditures for the RBY? Citation: BPD2: p. 5 3

4 Q11. Q12. Do the proposed and adopted budget documents contain verbal descriptions (explanations) of various revenues for the RBY? Citation: BPD2: p. 5 Do the proposed and adopted budget documents contain verbal descriptions (explanations) of individual programs and the underlying expenditures? Citation: BPD2.: p Questions 13 to 15: Proposed and adopted budget documents and RBY-1=2009 Q13. Do the proposed and adopted budget documents present expenditures for RBY-1 classified by economic classification? Q14. Do the proposed and adopted budget documents present expenditures for RBY-1 classified by functional classification? Q15. Do the proposed and adopted budget documents present expenditures for RBY-1 for individual programs? Questions 16 to 19: Proposed and adopted budget documents and RBY+1=2011 / RBY+2=2012 Do the proposed and adopted budget documents present tax and non-tax revenues from different sources for RBY+1 and Q16. RBY+2? Citation: BPD2: p. 60 Do the proposed and adopted budget documents present expenditures for RBY+1 and RBY+2, classified by economic Q17. classification? Citation: BPD2: p. 61 Do the proposed and adopted budget documents present expenditures for RBY+1 and RBY+2, classified by functional Q18. classification? Citation: BPD2 Q19. Do the proposed and adopted budget documents present expenditures for RBY+1 and RBY+2 for individual programs? Citation: BPD2 Question 20: Citizens Budget Q20. Does the local government publish a non-technical presentation of the budget intended for a wide audience (Citizens Budget)? Citation: CB Questions 21 to 25: Half-Year Report Q21. Does the Half-Year Report present expenditures for RBY-1, classified by economic classification? Citation: HYR: p Q22. Does the Half-Year Report present expenditures for RBY-1, classified by functional classification? Citation: HYR Q23. Does the Half-Year Report present tax revenues from different sources for RBY-1? Citation: HYR: p. 175, 179 Q24. Does the Half-Year Report present grants for RBY-1? Citation: HYR: p Q25. Does the Half-Year Report present non-tax revenues from different sources for RBY-1? Citation: HYR: p

5 Questions 26 to 32: Year-End Report Q26. Does the Year-End Report present expenditures for RBY-2, classified by economic classification? Citation: YR: p , Q27. Does the Year-End Report present expenditures for RBY-2, classified by functional classification? Citation: YR Q28. Does the Year-End Report present expenditures for RBY-2 for individual programs? Citation: YR: p Q29. Does the Year-End Report present tax revenues from different sources for RBY-2? Citation: YR: p. 85, 88 Q30. Does the Year-End Report present grants for RBY-2? Citation: YR: p. 85 Q31. Does the Year-End Report present non-tax revenues from different sources for RBY-2? Citation: YR: p. 85, 88 Q32. Does the Year-End Report present information on outstanding debt? Citation: YR: p. 84, 87, 89, 90 Questions 33 to 37: Availability of Budget Proposal with Projections and local gazette Q33. Were Budget Proposal Documents available? Response: Citation: Q34. Are the information on RBY+1/RBY+2 presented in Budget Proposal Documents? Response: Citation: BPD What is the time period between receiving the Budget Proposal Documents by local unit representatives and its Q35. enactment? Response: 23 days Citation: Survey Q36. Is the local official gazette available on the Internet? Response: Citation: 142/Default.aspx Q37. What is the time period between enacting the budget and its publication in the local gazette? Response: 0 days Citation: Questionnaire Questions 38 to 41: Cooperation with local officials and representatives Q38. Has the city s information officer responded to the Survey? Response: Citation: Survey Q39. Have the two City Council representatives and head of the city s Finance Department responded to the Survey? three of them have responded Citation: Survey If some additional contact information has been requested from local governments, how many days have passed from Q40. request to response? Response: 16 days Citation: Address book If some additional contact information has been requested from local governments, how many telephone calls or Q41. messages have been needed to obtain the data? Response: 4 (3 s + 1 tel. call) Citation: Address book 5

6 Questions 42 to 43: Information about local representatives Q42. Is the list of representatives in the City Council available on the city s official website? Q43. Response: Citation: Is the information on the political party membership of representatives in the City Council available on the city s official website? Response: Citation: Questions 44 to 45: Information about local Committee on Budget Issues Q44. Does the local Committee on Budget Issues (as a part of the local City Council) exist? Response: No Citation: Address book Q45. Are the names of members of the local Committee on Budget Issues available on the city s official website? Response: No committee Citation: Address book Questions 46 to 47: Availability of the main city documents Q46. Are the City Council s Rules of Procedure available on the city's official website? Response: Citation: d/456/default.aspx Q47. Is the Statute of the city available on the city's official website? Response: Citation: d/456/default.aspx Questions 48 to 52: City Council meetings documents and participation Are the agendas of the City Council meetings made available on the city's official website prior to the City Council Q48. meetings? Response: Citation: Is the distribution of documents to city representatives prior to the City Council meetings stipulated by the City Council s Q49. Rules of Procedure or by the Statute of the city? Response: Citation: Poslovnik GVG Kutine čl. 72 Do the City Council s Rules of Procedure stipulate that, prior to meetings, the documents should be made available on the Q50. city's official website or distributed to parties other than the City Council representatives? Response: Citation: Poslovnik GVG Kutine čl. 72 Q51. Are citizens allowed to attend the City Council meetings? Response: Citation: Poslovnik GVG Kutine čl. 105 Is the right of the City Council representatives to ask questions at the City Council meetings stipulated by the City Q52. Council s Rules of Procedure or by the Statute of the city? Response: Citation: Poslovnik GVG Kutine čl.60 6