Budget transparency in Croatian counties, cities and municipalities (November 2014 – March 2015)

Abstract

Despite improvements in the transparency of local government budgets in the Republic of Croatia, the situation is still far from satisfactory. Some cities and municipalities performed remarkably well, with a special mention being due to Viskovo, one of 428 municipalities, for having published all the requested budget documents. The leader (as regards the average level of transparency for all local government units located in a county) is the Karlovac County and the least transparent are the Split-Dalmatia, Zadar and Bjelovar-Bilogora counties. Viewed by type of local government units, the most transparent are counties; cities are much less so, and municipalities are mostly non-transparent. The results for all counties, cities and municipalities are also shown on the interactive map. The analysis shows that the budget transparency score of a local government unit is not significantly influenced by its population size or its budget performance. It can therefore be assumed that transparency primarily depends on the local government authorities' political will. National and local government authorities use budget transparency to prove their accountability to citizens and gain their trust. Therefore, the Government and Ministry of Finance should tighten the obligation of local government units to publish key budget documents, including citizens’ guides pertaining to them, within predetermined time limits. They should also penalize those units which do not comply with this obligation. Moreover, they should set a good example of the timely publication of key state budget documents, including citizens’ guides, showing to local government units the importance of budget transparency for the efficient and equitable collection and spending of public funds.