Decreasing financial self-sufficiency of towns with county rights as an obstacle to their social and economic development

Abstract

Towns with county rights are a particular combination of commune and county administrations, and so is the scope of their responsibility, for they discharge the tasks pertinent to a commune and to a county. As other administrative units they possess legal personality and shape their own financial policy (within the existing legal framework), an aspect that forms the foundation of their financial self-sufficiency. High levels of own revenues per capita and high shares of own in total revenues are the self-sufficiency goals that promote better satisfaction of the inhabitants needs and stable development of local government. Own revenues of towns with county rights are the main source of their income and yet, for the last few years their share in total revenues has been observed to decline. These worrisome findings may be related to some demographic and social changes that take place within the towns and if persistent may hinder the financial management of the their government and impede their social and economic development. The paper aimed to assess the changes in the level of financial self-sufficiency of towns with country rights between 2005 and 2014. The study took into account selected indicators of self-sufficiency paying special attention to a group of towns described as metropolitan. Moreover, the paper attempted to identify determinants of the changes and explore development opportunities of the units. The research drew on data published by the Central Statistical Office (Local Data Bank) and the Ministry of Finance.