County Rights Research Articles

The sustainable development of cities with county rights in Poland in the light of selected environmental indicators

Objective: The environmental aspect plays a significant role in shaping sustainable development in local government units. Currently, efforts are being made to reduce the negative impact on the natural environment of the effects of ongoing urbanization. One of the principal ideas of implementing sustainable development is to meet the existing needs of the current generation without limiting the possibilities for subsequent generations. In assessing the degree of implementation of sustainable development, indicators that can inform about the effects of actions taken by local government units play a very important role. The purpose of this study is to assess all 66 cities with county rights during the period 2016–2018 using environmental indicators as information and diagnostic tools. Research methods: The article shows the results of statistical analysis. Select statistical methods were used. Research results: In the examined period, there was no increase in the share of green areas, forests, or legally protected areas in the examined cities. There was no increase in the percentage of the population using sewage treatment plants. A favorable change was noted in relation to municipal waste collected separately. Findings: The research indicates that using indicators to assess activities for the natural environment allows local government units to assess the positive or negative effects of their implementation. Constant monitoring of the results allows them to take corrective actions in areas where the city achieves poor results. The indicators used to evaluate activities under the sustainable development umbrella make it possible to benchmark the results achieved by the cities studied.

Education Financing: Explaining the Expenditure Concentration Gap between the State and Local Governments in Poland 2008-2019

Purpose: The aim of this article is to explain the differences between the educational expenses of municipalities and cities in Poland and the educational subvention received by them from the state budget, in particular the scale of the violation of the actual educational expenses of municipalities and cities by their original structure as a result of aggregated decisions of local authorities. Design/Methodology/Approach: The concentration degree of educational expenditure and subvention streams using the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI), for 2008-2019 from the database of the Local Data Bank of the Central Statistical Office has been used. Findings: The educational subvention was universal (nationwide), which is evidenced by the low degree of its concentration for all the studied groups of entities, the highest HHI values for educational expenses were recorded in the cities with county rights in terms of expenses on subsidies, property expenses, expenses on materials and services, as well as total expenses, and the higher degree of concentration of these expenditures as measured by the HHI results from uncoordinated financial decisions of the cities authorities concerning expenditures on education, disturbing the universal character of the nationwide educational subvention in aggregate were observed. Recommendations: There is a need for systemic actions of central and local authorities to reduce the level of imbalance in financing education by local governments. Practical Implications: for the empirical identification of determinants of the educational expenditure and subvention level of municipalities as a starting point for a discussion on the actual scale of financial responsibility for education in Poland. Originality/Value: To estimate the concentration gap between educational expenditure and subvention for groups of entities under study, local governments, municipalities and cities.

The connection between public lighting modernisation and light pollution : The Dunaújváros pattern

Proper street lighting has psychological, ecological and economic functions. Not only does it provide safety in settlements at night, but it also makes streets friendlier. Inadequate quantity and quality of street luminaries can cause troubles in the ecosystems of settlements. Public lighting management is the responsibility of local governments, and therefore it matters how much the operation and maintenance burden the budget. The modernisation of the obsolete street lighting system and the installation of a reliable and energy-saving (cost-effective in the long run) system is taking place in more and more places. Large cities (domestic cities with county rights) deserve special attention due to the concentration of the population, functions and through them the concentration of environmental impacts.

Involvement of cities with county rights in financing tasks pertaining to physical culture

Units of local governments in Poland are responsible for running actions in the sphere of physical culture. The growing number of people practicing sports, as well as social and rearing aspects related to sports exert an influence on the activity of sports clubs and social organizations which promote physical culture. While only some sports organizations are self-sufficient economically, most of them must rely on public support. In Poland, like in the majority of European countries, one of the main sources of financing are public grants. Cities with county rights (CCRs), being a specific type of commune, undertake tasks of both communes and counties. In the sphere of tasks pertaining to physical culture this can manifest itself by higher budgetary expenses in general, including grants. Local tasks connected with sport are stiffly defined by central regulations only to an insignificant extent. Therefore it is accepted that local governments possess considerable autonomy as regards deciding about allocation of the means assigned for their realization. This concerns also the grant-based expenses. Thus, the aim of the article is to examine whether the scale of expenses borne on physical culture, including local government grants, is dependent on the size of CCRs and on the level of their financial autonomy. In this paper, the author presents differences in expenses from budgets of CCRs on tasks pertaining to physical culture (Section 926 of the budgetary classification), with particular taking account of grants which constitute them. The basic tools of descriptive statistics and study of interdependences were used. A very large spatial difference in the examined variables, both in the regional framework and within the types of communes, was found. The mean interdependence was identified between grant-based expenses and the level of financial autonomy of the cities with county rights.

The Use of the CORINE Land Cover (CLC) Database for Analyzing Urban Sprawl

Urban sprawl is generally defined as the urbanization of space adjacent to a city, which results from that city’s development. The discussed phenomenon involves land development, mainly agricultural land, in the proximity of cities, the development of infrastructure, and an increase in the number of residents who rely on urban services and commute to work in the city. Urban sprawl generates numerous problems which, in the broadest sense, result from the difficulty in identifying the boundaries of the central urban unit and the participation of local inhabitants, regardless of their actual place of residence, in that unit’s functional costs. These problems are associated not only with tax collection rights but with difficulties in measuring the extent of urban sprawl in research and local governance. The aim of this study was to analyze the applicability of the CORINE Land Cover (CLC) database for monitoring urbanization processes, including the dynamic process of urban sprawl. Polish cities with county rights, i.e., cities that implement independent spatial planning policies, were analyzed in the study to determine the pattern of urban sprawl in various types of cities. Buffer zones composed of municipalities that are directly adjacent to the central urban unit were mapped around the analyzed cities. The study proposes a novel method for measuring the extent of suburbanization with the use of the CLC database and Geographic Information System (GIS) tools. The developed method relies on the overgrowth of urbanization (OU) index calculated based on CLC data. The OU index revealed differences in the rate of urbanization in three groups of differently sized Polish cities. The analysis covered two periods: 2006–2012 and 2012–2018, and it revealed that urban sprawl in the examined cities proceeded in an unstable manner over time. The results of the present study indicate that the CLC database is a reliable source of information about urbanization processes.

Klasyfikacja polskich miast na podstawie warunków środowiskowych i komunikacyjnych

Problems associated with environmental pollution concern most large Polish cities. They are mainly caused by transport, municipal waste, emissions from the housing sector and from factories, particularly burdensome for the environment. Based on data related to the state and the protection of the natural environment and road transport, the author attempted to divide Polish cities with county (‘powiat’) rights into groups with different environmental features. Discriminatory analysis was used for the division. The highest average value of the discriminatory function was shown by the group with the most favourable environmental and social conditions. In subsequent groups, the environmental pollution grew more and more. In turn, classification functions of discriminatory analysis allowed for the assignment of individual cities to selected groups. Discriminatory analysis could therefore be used as a support tool for examining the state of the environment and environmental protection in cities with county rights. The goal of the work is to identify the diversity of environmental and communication conditions in Polish cities with county (‘powiat’) rights.

New Mechanisms for Integrated Territorial Development in Hungary

Hungary is one of the main beneficiaries of the EU Cohesion Policy, which aids the development of the regions lagging behind. As one of the policy’s main objectives is territorial cohesion, both the functioning of the territorial delivery system and the role of the regional and local stakeholders have crucial importance. The paper presents and evaluates the regime Hungary uses for integrated territorial development: the territorial strategies devised by municipalities as integrated plans on the basis of a pre-set financial allocation, a pre-defined menu of measures and obligatory performance targets. The research explores the interactions between multilevel governance structures and effectiveness of delivery. The paper is based on a mix of desk research and fieldwork (desk research of publicly available data presented in official reports, documents and data from the Hungarian institutions and authorities and on the relevant EU and national legislation together with the result of interviews with the local stakeholders and experiences of the authors) and it offers empirical experience on how this regime has been functioning and what the impacts are. The Hungarian mechanism implies a renewed system of domestic collaboration and increased territorial responsibilities. Despite similarities, it is a distinct mode from the ESIF territorial toolkit, and even with the establishment of a dedicated financial framework for counties and cities with county rights, the decentralisation of the programming and implementation of ITPs have not been realised.

Regional Inequalities in Residential Energy Use of Hungarian Urban Areas

Purpose of the article: Cities account for 60–80% of global energy consumption, and based on projections the development of urban areas will be the main engine of energy use growth in the future. Understanding and analysing the urban energy use and clarifying social and spatial inequalities is essential to make conscious energy policy decisions and gather feedback. A clear road map is needed for implementation of policy on decentralized energy. Methodology/methods: The analysis covers 23 Hungarian towns with county rights and Budapest during the period of 2010–2015. Simple statistical indices are calculated: the range ratio, range, relative range, dual index, standard deviation, relative standard deviation, absolute average difference. Scientific aim: The spatial distribution of energy use may contribute not only to understanding the decentralization process of energy systems but to forming a new energy policy that moves towards regional level and is highly decentralized. In this study, our main objective is to examine the Hungarian residential energy use revealing the regional disparities of urban energy use. Findings: In the case of the examined cities, significant inequalities and large spatial variances were not revealed with regard to the indicators of urban energy consumption (i.e. residential electricity consumption per household, residential gas consumption per household). However, the already small territorial differences typically decreased between 2010 and 2015. Conclusions: We conclude that significant differences regarding urban (23 Hungarian towns with county rights and Budapest) energy use were not experienced.

Administracja zespolona w mieście na prawach powiatu

Artykuł porusza problematykę funkcjonowania organ.w administracji zespolonej
 w mieście na prawach powiatu. We wstępie tekstu wskazano na powiązania między
 restytucją samorządu terytorialnego w Polsce i wprowadzeniem jego tr.jstopniowego
 modelu a wykonywaniem zadań terenowej administracji rządowej. Następnie odniesiono
 się do kwestii modelowej struktury powiatowej administracji zespolonej, kt.ra
 została ujęta w ustawie o samorządzie powiatowym. Szczeg.lną uwagę poświęcono
 staroście jako organowi administracji og.lnej, z kt.rym zespolono poszczeg.lne
 powiatowe jednostki organizacyjne. W dalszej części poddano analizie odmienności
 w strukturze administracji zespolonej w mieście na prawach powiatu. Kluczowym
 zagadnieniem artykułu jest analiza art. 33b ustawy o samorządzie powiatowym
 w kontekście odmienności ustrojowych gminy o statusie miasta. Dokonano r.wnież
 analizy poszczeg.lnych organ.w administracji zespolonej w mieście na prawach
 powiatu, prezentując wcześniejszy stan normatywny, jak i formułując uwagi de lege
 lata. Publikację kończy podsumowanie organizacji administracji zespolonej w tej
 specyfi cznej jednostce samorządu terytorialnego.

THE USE OF EUROPEAN UNION FUNDS FOR CULTURAL PURPOSES IN MAŁOPOLSKIE VOIVODSHIP FROM 2007 TILL 2015

The paper explores the issue of the use of European Union funds for cultural heritage in Małopolskie Voivodship during the period 2007–2015, taking into consideration spatial categories which include: rural areas comprising rural communes and small towns, towns with health resorts, land counties, urban counties (town with county rights), and Cracow as the capital of the Voivodship. It examines the structure of the total value and of the amount of EU funding for culture-related European projects by the purposes of their implementation which included: revaluation of the objects of culture, creation and development of a new tourism product, renovation of sports and recreation facilities, promotion and other issues. The study was conducted using the statistical database of the National Information System of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Development of the Republic of Poland (KSI SIMIK 07-13) as of 31 December 2015.

The determinants of local public investments in Poland

Research background: Local public investments satisfy basic local communities? needs and are crucial from the perspective of regional convergence. Against this background, investments by the Polish local government pose as an interesting research subject. It is because, due to its size and dynamics, local public investments exert a considerably significant influence on the Polish economy. Self-government entities with primary responsibility for conducting local public in-vestments in Poland are municipalities.
 Purpose of the article: The paper aims to identify fiscal, demographic and infra-structural determinants of municipal investment spending in Poland.
 Methods: We use panel data for 2,412 Polish municipalities over the period 2007?2014. For institutional reasons, the sample excludes cities with county rights. The baseline specification employs two-way fixed-effects (FE) estimation that controls both for municipality and year fixed effects. To test for robustness, the sample is restricted to municipalities with up to 20,000; 10,000 and 5,000 inhabitants. For each considered sample, there are four regression specifications.
 Findings & Value added: Investment spending increases both in own revenues and grants. On the contrary, we document the negative impact of indebtedness level and the coverage of water supply and sewage systems. The coefficients on population size and the share of old inhabitants cease to be negative and statistically significant for municipalities with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants. The results indicate that, apart from fiscal capacity, the investment policies of Polish municipalities are affected by economies of scale, local communities? preferences and infrastructural endowment. The study also shows that incurring debt should be of particular concern for supervisory and control bodies.

Kondycja finansowa jednostek samorządu terytorialnego – koniec wpływu spowolnienia gospodarczego?

Since 2013, the financial standing of local governments (LG) has been gradually improving in Poland. Their debt ratios have decreased and debt service capacity improved remarkably. The analysis of individual LG categories indicates that the progress is not uniform. The most modest recovery was in the category of towns with county rights. The new statutory debt limit created a space to increase their debt, which was not accompanied by adequately strong growth in operating surpluses. At the end of 2015, ca. 15% of towns with county rights crossed the alarming values of debt indicators and they are noticeably exposed to a risk of interest rates increases. The differences between LGs with sound risk profile and LGs with inferior risk profile are growing also for the rural boroughs and the counties. As a result, despite an average improvement in financial ratios for the LG sector, several dozen entities remain in the financial situation even more difficult than in the years 2011–2012.

Rozwój powiatów województwa mazowieckiego – wymiar ekologiczny

Głównym celem artykułu jest określenie poziomu rozwoju ekologicznego powiatów województwa mazowieckiego przy wykorzystaniu oryginalnego wskaźnika syntetycznego, do którego konstrukcji wykorzystano analizę czynnikową. Z przeprowadzonych badań wynika, że w latach 2006–2015 pod względem ekologicznym najbardziej rozwinięte były powiaty siedlecki, lipski i radomski, a najsłabiej – kozienicki i miasta na prawach powiatu (w tym Warszawa). Dysproporcje rozwojowe między powiatami Mazowsza w tym czasie uległy zmniejszeniu.

Spatial Dependence Structure of Total Factor Productivity in Polish Local Administrative Districts

The interaction between space (location) and the processes of accumulation (growth) is one of the most interesting and at the same time the most difficult areas of modern economic theory. The up till now empirical research on determinants of regional productivity in the case of Poland is however relatively scarce. Most studies focus on explaining the variation in regional income per capita mostly at NUTS–2 and NUTS–3 levels, and only a few take into account a highly spatially disaggregated NUTS–4 level. We aim to fill this important gap. The present article has several objectives. We try to explain the spatial patterns of productivity, to identify the spatial range of productivity spillovers empirically and to identify the determinants of the Total Factor Productivity (TFP) growth in Poland with the use of spatial econometric modeling and the extended version of the Nelson‑Phelps (1966) model. The study adopts an NUTS-4 level of local administrative districts (powiats) which we find superior on both theoretical (market closing) and empirical grounds (spatial modeling). TFP in Poland assumes the highest values in the metropolitan centers and spreads out on their nearest surroundings with the maximum value for Warsaw. The secondary local hills in TFP are located in cities or towns with county rights. TFP, in general, shows a downward trend as one moves from the west to the east with the lowest values observed in the south‑eastern part of Poland. The range of TFP spillover is found to be of roughly 175–200 km and is nonlinearly decreasing from the local productivity hills. Furthermore, the rate of growth of TFP shows spatial autocorrelation and is found to depend positively on the rate of increase in human capital endowment and on the gap from the leader under certain assumptions. We find no evidence of the channel through imports. However, the FDI channel is found to be robust and strong.

THE UTILIZATION OF EU FUNDS IN THE YEARS 2007–2015 FOR THE PRESERVATION OF CULTURAL HERITAGE OF RURAL AREAS IN EASTERN POLAND

The article presents the problems of financing cultural heritage of rural areas from the European Union funds in the macroregion of Eastern Poland. It outlines the scale and structure of the use of the EU funds for projects relating to the protection and promotion of cultural heritage. It also describes the scale of regional differentiation in the field of the use of European Funds for the protection of cultural heritage in rural areas. The temporal range of the study included the years from 2007 to 2015. The analysis was conducted across the six types of projects distinguished according to their subject matter, that is to say the promotion of natural values, protection and valorization of natural heritage, other forms of support for the enhancement of tourism services, protection and preservation of cultural heritage, development of cultural infrastructure, other forms of support for the improvement of cultural services, as well as integrated projects for the revitalization of urban and rural areas. The analysis focused on four types of areas: rural areas, towns with county rights, voivodship towns and the area of the voivodship. The information used in this study was based on the data pertaining to the projects co-financed from the EU funds and stored in the National Information System (KSI SIMIK 07-13) as of 31 December 2016.

Sposób określenia inkasenta przy poborze opłaty targowej w miastach na prawach powiatu – praktyka i problemy prawne

Market charge is considered as one of the local taxes and fees. One of the most important, but usually overlooked in the literature aspect of that charge are the issues related to its charging, which usually is made by way of collection. The main purpose of this article is to present institutions of market charge collectors in cities with county rights. The analysis is based on a systematic compilation of legal norms which shape the function with the position of the doctrine and case law. The article ends concludes with a summary, which synthetically recognizes the most important conclusions of the article, and lead to a submission that in most cases the practice of the authorities of local government units in terms of appointing and regulating the principles of collectors is correct.

Nierówności dochodowe samorządów gminnych w Polsce

PolandSummaryCarrying out the tasks of communal governments hinges on provision of adequate financial resources. High level of own revenues per capita and their high share in total revenues indicate communes’ wider financial self-sufficiency and thereby facilitate better satisfaction of social needs and foster stable local development. Communes’ income potential depends on external conditions such as the country’s economic situation, but also on location, natural resources and conditions, and on internal social and economic circumstances. All these factors may broaden existing disparities in income potential of communes across provinces or administrative types. The study aimed to evaluate levels of income inequalities of Polish communes in 2005-2014. Own revenues and total revenues per capita of communes (excluding communes with county rights) were considered across administrative types and provinces. The research drew on data published by the Central Statistical Office and employed Theil index as inequality measure. For own revenues, the largest income inequalities, though decreasing over time, were observed within rural communes, which may be explained by marked disparity between their functional types. As for provinces, the highest level of inequality was noted in mazowieckie and the lowest in lubuskie. Between-administrative-types and between-provinces inequalities were small. Furthermore, income inequalities of total revenues for all communes of Poland were close to zero.

Beszélünk a részvételről… Megyei jogú városok fejlesztési dokumentumainak elemzése az érintettek részvételének aspektusából

Tanulmányunkban a hazai vidéki nagyvárosok tervezési folyamata során megvalósuló érintetti részvételt elemezzük. Érdeklődésünk középpontjában az áll, hogy az érintetteknek milyen lehetőségük van a fejlesztési folyamat aktív részesévé válni, milyen korlátok állnak ennek útjában. A 23 hazai megyei jogú város 2013 és 2014 során elfogadott partnerségi egyeztetési terveit, városfejlesztési koncepcióit és integrált településfejlesztési stratégiáit elemeztük, kvalitatív tartalomelemzés segítségével. Ez lehetőséget adott arra, hogy a dokumentum felszíni rétegét (miszerint beszélünk a részvételről, és azt fontosnak tartjuk), ütköztessük a dokumentumok mélyrétegeinek felszínre hozható tartalmával (miszerint valójában csak beszélünk a részvételről). Következtetésünk, hogy a legtöbb érintett számára a részvétel hazai gyakorlata nem saját ügyeik előmozdításának szabadságát nyújtja, hanem a tényleges lehetőségektől történő megfosztás módját jelenti. Így a helyi fejlesztés „hogyanja” egyrészt önmagában is a jóllét csökkentésének irányába hat, hiszen a részvétel mint értékesnek tekinthető lehetőség nem választható a helyi szereplők jelentős része számára. Másrészt, így a szereplők a részvétellel mint eszközzel sem tudnak élni, hogy előmozdíthassák a számukra kívánatosabb fejlesztési eredmények létrejöttét.

Wydajność fiskalna, przestrzenne zróżnicowanie i czynniki warunkujące dochody z podatku od czynności cywilnoprawnych w miastach na prawach powiatu w Polsce

Tax on civil law transactions are one of the revenues of the cities with county rights in Poland, the construction of which they cannot affect in any way. The factors that determine the revenues obtained by them remain outside the influence of local governments. In this study, the author examined and evaluated the size, stability and diversification of revenue importance of cities with district rights in Poland from the tax on civil law transactions and identified the relevance of certain factors determining their level. The analysis was based on both the aggregated data relating in total to all the cities with district rights in Poland, as well as to individual units of this type.

Zróżnicowanie fiskalnych skutków polityki podatkowej jednostek samorządu terytorialnego

The purpose of the article is to identify differences in fiscal implications of decisions in terms of taxation power made by municipalities (also including cities with county rights) from the perspective of such criteria as the type of local tax, the type of municipality and its geographic location. The research hypothesis stating that local tax policy results in more extensive fiscal consequences, and hence remains more active in the areas (regions) characterized by poorer socio-economic situation, was put forward for verification in the article. The conducted analysis covered revenues from local taxes in Poland in the period 2006–2014, primarily in the context of fiscal consequences resulting from using the tools for power to tax and confronting them with the selected economic indicators for regions. The conducted correlation analysis confirms the theoretical assumptions and allows for considering the hypothesis to be true.