Local budget transparency: the case of 33 Croatian cities

Abstract

We measure budget transparency in 33 Croatian cities in 2010, investigating the quality of city budget information and the openness of the city budget process to the public. We construct and answer a questionnaire on the basis of which we calculate an Open City Budget Index (OCBI), as a general measure of the budget transparency for each city. We also carry out a survey among the representatives of executive and representative bodies and civil society organizations in the observed cities and among representatives in the Ministry of Finance. The general measure of budget transparency – the OCBI – in the analyzed cites is, on average, 65% (ranging from 82% to 45%), the main problems in most of the cities being related to the poor quality of data in the main local budget documents. The survey indicates that the process of exchange of local budget documents is not transparent enough.