Budget Punctuations in Czech Local Government

The implementation of budgetary reform in local government budgeting is often viewed as lacking a structured system. This is marked by low transparency and accountability in the management of local budgets. Financial management systems that contradict the principles of good governance necessitate transparency and accountability in all areas of government. The advent of e-budgeting is evidence of the utilization of e-government programs in Indonesia. E-budgeting is expected to be a solution for enhancing transparency and accountability in local budget management. With e-budgeting, the public can more easily access information about budget allocations and their usage. Public participation is also anticipated to increase, allowing for more effective oversight of local government budgets. This transparency not only supports the improvement of financial management at the local level but also contributes to the enhancement of public service quality. Therefore, the implementation of e-budgeting is expected to strengthen good governance and increase public trust in local governments. Active public participation and high transparency are key to realizing a more efficient and accountable local budget management system.

Background: In many countries, local governments are neither well equipped nor properly accountable for performing their functions smoothly. They have also failed to become effective strategic partners of the national government and other levels of subnational governments. They have neither sufficient tax-base and local resource-entitlement nor full-bodied intergovernmental support. But the demands for services and goods continue to exceed the supply at local-government level in Bangladesh and elsewhere. As a result, the local government planning and budgeting issues become centrally positioned in the debate on the subnational level decentralisation, especially concerning fiscal decentralisation and political economics of local governments.Aim: Keeping this fact in mind, the study examined the implications of classical budget theories in the local government budgeting process, particularly in the budgetary process and decisions of local government union councils in Bangladesh.Setting: The data collection period was January 2018 to February 2018. The units of analysis of this study are ‘the classical budget theories’ and the lowest tier of the rural local government institutions in Bangladesh – that is, ‘the union. councils’.Methods: The study followed ‘focused synthesis’ and ‘qualitative case research’ methods for data collection and used the epistemological view ‘positivism’ for data analysis.Results: The study contributed to the literature stream of local government studies, public budget theory, subnational finance and budgeting, and the political economics of the local government.Conclusion: This research reveals that ‘budgetary incrementalism’ and ‘high conditionality’ to inter-governmental transfers undermine the essence of community stakeholders’ consultations and spirit of local governance. It also unveils that central limitation towards effective functioning of a local government union council in Bangladesh is more related to the crisis of ownership and competence of the elected council rather than just to the external influences that somewhat affect their autonomy in the budgeting process and decisions.

Local governments are granted budgetary power in the Local Governments Act of the Republic of Uganda, which allows for local-level participation and flexibility in the allocation of financial grants channelled annually from central to local governments. The act prescribes a legal mandate to allocate public resources based on local priorities including the health needs of women compared with men. This study investigated the responsiveness of local government budgeting to the health needs of women as compared to men. A qualitative study was conducted in Mpigi district using a set of data collection methods including: a) three (3) focus group discussions with 8 female and 8 male respondents in each group; b) face-to-face interviews with a random sample of 120 households, 75% of which were male-headed and 25% female-headed ; c) key informant interviews with a sample of 10 administrative officers in Mpigi district ; and d) desk-review of the Mpigi district Budget Framework Paper. Health needs consist of the daily requirements, which, arise out of common disease infections and the socioeconomic constraints that affect the well-being of women and men. However, the primary concern of the district health sector is disease control measures, without emphasis on the differing socio-economic interests of women as compared to men. Local government budgeting, therefore, does not reflect the broad community-wide understanding of health needs. Local government budgeting should be informed by a two-fold framework for the gendered definition of health needs. The two-fold framework combines both disease-based health needs and socio-economic needs of women as compared to men.

The COVID-19 pandemic presented unmatched challenges for citizen participation worldwide in local government budgeting processes. Zimbabwe in particular was grappling with the pandemic’s effects and pre-existing governance issues. The pandemic ignited the central government to put COVID-19 public restrictions militating on citizen engagement in the budgeting process. The implemented measures were aimed at curbing the spread of the virus. While these measures were necessary for public health, they unintentionally constrained citizens’ ability to be unreservedly involved in local government decision-making. The paper employed a qualitative case study research design, employing interviews, Google Forms, and document analysis, to gather data exploring the experiences and perspectives of citizens, civil society organizations, and local government officials regarding the repercussions of constrained citizen participation in local government budgeting during the pandemic. The argument was hinged on the participatory theory based on two broad views: the normative and the instrumentalist perspectives. The paper notes that COVID-19 restrictions severely constrained citizen participation, limiting public input, deliberation, and accountability opportunities. The inability to convene public meetings, consultations, and workshops weakened the citizen-government engagement process, hindering transparency and the ability of citizens to influence resource allocation and stewardship. Furthermore, the restricted participation by marginalized communities exacerbates existing inequalities due to the technological divide hindering their ability to voice their concerns and interests in the budgeting processes. The paper calls for the exigent need for inventive methodologies to guarantee comprehensive and evocative citizen participation, by leveraging digital technologies and promoting alternative channels for engagement to augment citizen participation in local government budgeting.

Budget allocation and budget planning can be used in different ways. In addition, it can be part of a political budget cycle. Previous research has highlighted the political budget cycle's existence in European countries, demonstrating its impact on public revenue and expenditure near elections. However, citizens often lack awareness of this phenomenon, underscoring the need for vigilant scrutiny. In addition, elected politicians increasingly rely on voters for support, targeting them during budget allocation and election campaigns. In Latvia, the mayors have a role in budget planning because they work full-time and are the head of the financial commission. In Latvia, despite a lack of trust in local politicians, there is a tendency for most of the mayors to be re-elected. The article aims to examine what kind of role the council’s chairperson has in the local government's budget allocation process and what factors affect the budget allocation process in Latvia. The article’s scope encompasses the years 2009 to 2017, spanning two election terms (2009-2013; 2013-2017), and focuses on eight state cities in Latvia, excluding the capital city, Riga. Notably, local governments with a higher percentage of council members from the mayor's party tend to exhibit higher expenditure levels. The findings of this study suggest that various socio-economic and political factors impact the financial performance of local governments in Latvia. These results underscore the significance of population and unemployment in shaping local government expenditures. Simultaneously, this research has highlighted the importance of political factors such as the majority in the local government and time spent in the mayor’s position. Moreover, it reveals that long-serving mayors and a majority in the council also influence budget allocation decisions. This article's implications can guide policymakers in making informed decisions regarding municipal budget expenditures and revenues.

Budget allocation and budget planning can be used in different ways. In addition, it can be part of a political budget cycle. Previous research has highlighted the political budget cycle's existence in European countries, demonstrating its impact on public revenue and expenditure near elections. However, citizens often lack awareness of this phenomenon, underscoring the need for vigilant scrutiny. In addition, elected politicians increasingly rely on voters for support, targeting them during budget allocation and election campaigns. In Latvia, the mayors have a role in budget planning because they work full-time and are the head of the financial commission. In Latvia, despite a lack of trust in local politicians, there is a tendency for most of the mayors to be re-elected. The article aims to examine what kind of role the council’s chairperson has in the local government's budget allocation process and what factors affect the budget allocation process in Latvia. The article’s scope encompasses the years 2009 to 2017, spanning two election terms (2009-2013; 2013-2017), and focuses on eight state cities in Latvia, excluding the capital city, Riga. Notably, local governments with a higher percentage of council members from the mayor's party tend to exhibit higher expenditure levels. The findings of this study suggest that various socio-economic and political factors impact the financial performance of local governments in Latvia. These results underscore the significance of population and unemployment in shaping local government expenditures. Simultaneously, this research has highlighted the importance of political factors such as the majority in the local government and time spent in the mayor’s position. Moreover, it reveals that long-serving mayors and a majority in the council also influence budget allocation decisions. This article's implications can guide policymakers in making informed decisions regarding municipal budget expenditures and revenues.

Fluctuations in the financial market have introduced tremendous volatility into the financing of public pension plans, which in turn have a destabilizing effect on local government general fund budgets. In this chapter, we explore the reasons behind the volatility in pension financing and its countercyclical effect on local general fund budgets. More specifically, we examine three factors that jointly determine public pension financing: pension benefit design, pension contributions, and investment returns. Most importantly, we look at the effect of investment returns on employer pension contributions—which are financed by local government budgets. Solutions are then suggested as to how to mitigate this volatility in pension financing and its destabilizing effect on local government budgets.

Ratchet effect defined as form of budget setter’s behavioral bias in budget setting or budget planning process. Ratchet effect occurs when budget setter use prior period performance as basis to determine the upcoming budget as a consequences of the dynamic incentives problems in agency relation context. Lee and Plummer (2007) documented ratchet effect in public sector budgeting on performance based budgeting implementation. This study aims to find whether ratchet effecct occur in public sector budgeting, especially in Indonesian local government budgeting.This study use Local Government Task Force (SKPD) of Yogyakarta Special Region Province Government as research object for research period between 2012 to 2015. Selection of sample derived using purposive sampling to 31 SKPD and generates 17 sample which has Region Original Revenue (PAD) component and so 28 sample which has Direct Expenditure component in each of it’s budget structure. Total observed object used to examine ratchet effect in PAD budgeting is 68 observation and so forth 112 observation used to examine ratchet effect in Direct Expenditure budgeting. Multiple Linear Regresion used to test the hypotheses. The result shows that ratchet effect occurs in both PAD and Direct Expenditure budgeting, so all research hypotheses statistically accepted. This research generate evidence the occurence of ratchet effect in local government budgeting.

This article examines a case of participatory budgeting in Japanese local government. The article demonstrates how cultural values interact with stages of budgeting (in our case, the co-planning or consultation phase of budgeting). We find three key stakeholders – councillors, administrators and citizens – have varying degree of participation in the budget process. While direct citizen participation has been limited and challenging, we find that local associations and councillors work as lobbyists to influence the budget less publicly. The budget desk led by the mayor plays the dominant role. This article contributes to the broader debate on local government reforms and their translation into varied contexts by problematising such a linear adoption of knowledge from a cultural perspective. Points for practitioners We offer caution to policymakers about the wholesale adoption of knowledge from one context to the other. In the Japanese context, we urge them to draw on the strengths of grouping behaviour. Hence, engagement with associations, communities and various interests groups must be emphasised instead of simply relying on direct yet remote communications to citizens. Political engagements by the departments – perhaps via political parties – can be adopted before budget proposals are made to the local authority council. This will allow more space for the councillors to make their case to citizens, and maintain harmony ( wa) within and between political groups.

Purpose: This study aimed to analyze the role of civil society organizations in pro-poor local government budget processes, with Dokolo District as a case study. The specific objectives of the study are (i) To examine the extent to which CSOs contribute to local government revenue enhancement; (ii) To examine the extent to which CSOs influence the enactment of pro-poor local government budget allocations/priorities (iii) To examine the extent to which CSOs promote pro-poor implementation of enacted local government budgets; and (iv) To examine the extent to which CSOs prevent leakages to local government budget resources.
 Methods and materials: The study adopted a descriptive and correlational design, employing both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The population of the study included officials of 10 civil society organizations and both technical and political leaders of 6 local governments in Dokolo district. The sample size of the study was 89 respondents determined using Krejcie and Morgan Table (Krejcie and Morgan, 1970). The target respondents included both males and females.
 Findings of the study: The findings of this study suggest that civil society organizations contribute to local government revenue enhancement, building the capacity of local governments in revenue mobilization, providing off-budget and on-budget support to local governments; that civil society organizations promote pro-poor local government budget allocations through forums such as budget conferences and budget dialogues; that civil society organizations influence local governments to implement their budgets in ways that serve the best interests of the poor and/or the underprivileged and/or their priorities; by pressurizing local governments to implement pro-poor priorities that local governments would otherwise not implement and by speeding up or reducing delay in the implementation of pro-poor priorities or projects; and that civil society organizations promote pro-poor local government budgets by preventing leakages to pro-poor local government resources by among others checking shoddy work in pro-poor projects, Public Expenditure Tracking Surveys (PETS) to check loss of funds meant for pro-poor projects.
 Conclusion: Civil society organisations remain in the pro-poor budgeting processes at both the central government level as well as the local government level in Uganda.
 Recommendations: From the findings, it is encouraged that local governments should leverage civil society organizations as an important resource in enhancing their revenue; that local governments should involve civil society organizations in all phases of the budget circle; that local governments should embrace the use of social accountability forums and tools such as barazas, Public Expenditure Tracking Surveys (PETS) and social movements for checking local government budget resource leakages to enhance decentralized service delivery. Based on what remains unknown, this study suggests future research on the role of social accountability in fighting poverty.

Purpose: This study aimed to analyse the contribution of CSOs in pro-poor local government budget processes, with Dokolo District as a case study. The study addressed four questions, namely; (i) what is the extent to which CSOs contribute to local government revenue enhancement? (ii) What is the magnitude to which CSOs influence the enactment of pro-poor local government budget allocations/priorities? (iii) to what extent do CSOs promote pro-poor implementation of enacted local government budgets? And (iv) to what extent do CSOs prevent leakages to local government budget resources?
 Methodology: The study adopted a review of secondary literature gotten from journals, documentaries, periodicals, annual reports and statistical analyses
 Findings of the study: The findings suggest that CSOs contribute to local government revenue enhancement, building the capacity of local governments in revenue mobilization, providing off-budget and on-budget support to local governments; that CSOs promote pro-poor local government budget allocations through forums such as budget conferences and budget dialogues; that CSOs influence local governments to implement their budgets in ways that serve the best interests of the poor and/or the underprivileged and/or their priorities; by pressurizing local governments to implement pro-poor priorities that local governments would otherwise not implement and by speeding up or reducing delay in the implementation of pro-poor priorities or projects; and that CSOs promote pro-poor local government budgets by preventing leakages to pro-poor local government resources by among others checking shoddy work in pro-poor projects. 
 Recommendations: From the findings, it is encouraged that local governments should leverage CSOs as an important resource in enhancing their revenue; that local governments should involve CSOs in all phases of the budget circle; that local governments should embrace the use of social accountability forums and tools such as barazas, Public Expenditure Tracking Surveys (PETS) and social movements for checking local government budget resource leakages to enhance decentralized service delivery.
 Unique contribution to policy and/or practice: The results of this study are relevant to practitioners of civil society organisations seeing that the level of corruption in governments as well as the magnitude to which vulnerable sections continue to be marginalised is growing hence the need for the civil society to offer checks and balances in budget processes.

This study aims to identify the effect of Local Own-Source Revenue, General Allocation Fund, Special Allocation Fund, Revenue Sharing Fund, Other Lawful Local Revenue, towards the Local Government Budget, as well as conduct the flypaper effect analysis. The object of this research is Districts/Cities in Indonesia. The samples used in this study consist of 472 Districts/Cities in Indonesia in the year 2018. The sampling technique used was the purposive sampling method with previously set criteria. The data used in this study is secondary data that originates from Local Government Financial Reports that are published by the Audit Board of the Republic of Indonesia. The hypothesis testing used in this study is the double linear regression analysis, using SPSS program version 20 with a significance rate of 5%. The result of this study partially shows that Local Own-Source Revenue has a positive effect towards the Local Government Budget with a significance rate of 0,000, General Allocation Fund has a positive effect towards the Local Government Budget with a significance rate of 0,000, Special Allocation Fund has a positive effect towards the Local Government Budget with a significance rate of 0,000, Revenue Sharing Fund has a positive effect towards the Local Government Budget with a significance rate of 0,000, and Other Lawful Local Revenue has a positive effect towards the Local Government Budget with a significance rate of 0,000. The result of this study found the phenomenon of the flypaper effect towards Local Government Budget from the General Allocation Fund, while it was not found from the Special Allocation Fund and Revenue Sharing Fund.

Purpose This study investigates how municipal budget allocations influence greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, examining whether fiscal choices made by local governments shape cities’ environmental outcomes. By focusing on Minnesota cities from 2012 to 2020, the research argues that budgeting is a crucial yet underexplored tool for climate governance. Design/methodology/approach We integrate city-level greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions data from the Regional Indicator Initiative with local government expenditure records from the Office of the State Auditor. Through regression analysis, we evaluate how spending in key budget categories, such as culture and recreation, economic development and housing and conservation, correlates with total emissions as well as emissions from energy, transportation and waste. Findings The results indicate that the relationship between budget allocations and emissions is variable and can be contradictory. Spending on conservation and natural resources is consistently linked to reduced emissions, primarily through carbon sequestration and improved infrastructure efficiency. In contrast, expenditure on culture and recreation has mixed effects: for instance, investments in active mobility infrastructure can decrease transport-related emissions, while energy-intensive facilities tend to increase them. Similarly, economic development and housing expenditures may lower emissions if they promote compact, mixed-use development, but they can lead to higher emissions when associated with industrial or commercial expansion. Originality/value This research provides empirical evidence on local climate governance by connecting city-level fiscal choices to environmental outcomes. This paper integrates expenditure and emissions data, enhancing the understanding of budgets as climate policy tools. The findings offer policymakers practical insights, highlighting budget categories that can achieve lasting emissions reductions and the need to disaggregate expenditure types to identify climate-relevant trade-offs.

The expenditure composition and trade-offs in local government budgets

This study is aimed at investigating (1) whether differences exist in allocating the grant, society support, and financial support budgets within the incumbent local government budget before and during the process of regional election; (2) whether differences exist in allocating the grant, society support, and financial support budget during the regional election process between the incumbent and non incumbent candidates. This study applied the census method to analyze the local government practicing the regional election process involving the incumbent and non incumbent candidates in Indonesia. The objects investigated are grant, society support, and financial support budgets within the local government budget of 2019-2020 periods. The result of the study are (1) allocation of grant expenditure budget in incumbent regions during the process of the regional election was higher than the grant expenditure budget allocation before the process of the regional election process. (2) allocation of society support expenditure budget in incumbent regions during the process of the regional election was higher than the society support expenditure budget allocation before the process of the regional election process. (3) allocation of financial support expenditure budget in incumbent regions during the process of the regional election was higher than the financial support expenditure budget allocation before the process of the regional election process.(4) grant expenditure budget allocation in incumbent regions during the regional election process was higher than the budget allocation for the non incumbent regions. (5) society support expenditure budget allocation in incumbent regions during the regional election process was higher than the budget allocation for the non incumbent regions. (6) financial support expenditure budget allocation in incumbent regions during the regional election process was higher than the budget allocation for the non incumbent regions.