THE ANALYSIS OF RE-MUNICIPALIZATION TRENDS IN THE PROVISION OF LOCAL ECONOMIC PUBLIC SERVICES

Abstract

The paper investigates the experiences with the re-municipalization trend in Slovenia, which was identified after the adoption of the Public-Private Partnership Act (PPPA) in 2006. Under the new legislation, the reorganization process of public enterprises in Slovenia accured, which led to the changes in their ownership structure. The aim of our research is to identify the outcome of the reorganization process and to identify the experience of re-municipalisation of local public utilities, as the research topic has not yet been the subject of extensive research in Slovenia. The special focus is given on the services related to the water and wastewater management. Besides, research intends to identify the motives for the reorganization process, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of the reorganization process. Methodologically, the paper is based on the primary data collection and analysis through a self-prepared, detailed, structured on-line questionnaire sent to all Slovenian municipalities. The responses were collected in the period 2018–2020. The results show that new legislation contributed to the increased public ownership in local public services provision in the area of water and wastewater management by roughly 10%, as the majority of public enterprises were already fully municipally owned, even before the reorganization process. The results also reveal that the most important motives for increasing full public ownership are management problems in a mixed-ownership enterprise, simpler regulation of the service provider, greater control over the service provider, more opportunities to influence business activities, and greater rationality and efficiency of business activities. The research results also show that the reorganization process brought largely advantages. The biggest advantages are better organization of work, improving the quality of utility provision and that municipality is able to monitor the business activities of the enterprise under the decree. The reorganization process lead municipalities into re-municipalization, meaning that full municipal ownership and control has increased.