Local budget transparency
(November 2016 - March 2017)

Transparent budgets enable citizens to obtain complete, accurate, timely and understandable information about the budget. Hence, citizens can get informed and influence the more efficient collection of public funds and supply of public goods and services, increase accountability of local authorities and reduce opportunities for corruption. Maps show the local budget transparency in the period from November 2016 to March 2017 measured by the number of following key budget documents published on the official websites of the counties, cities, and municipalities:

  • 2015 year-end report
  • 2016 mid-year report
  • 2017 budget proposal
  • 2017 enacted budget
  • 2017 citizens budget

 

Our analysis involved only documents available in the observed research periods on the local government units’ websites, i.e. on the days when the websites were examined. Subsequently published documents were not considered. This methodology results in a local budget transparency index ranging from zero to five.

Detailed results and methodology of the research are presented in the Newsletter Budget transparency in Croatian counties, cities and municipalities (November 2016 - March 2017).

 

This work has been supported in part by the Croatian Science Foundation under the project (IP-2014-09-3008). Given the extensiveness of the research, there is some possibility of error. All the links were active at the time of the research.

Contact: transparency@ijf.hr.

 

How was the level of transparency of local budgets measured?

As it is not always easy to determine whether a budget document is published on the official websites of counties, cities and municipalities, the level of transparency was measured according to the following criteria:

  • Budget proposal – if a document bearing this title is published on a local government unit's website, either as a 'draft budget proposal', or as part of materials for a meeting, or if there is a clearly stated direct link to a website containing that document.
  • Enacted budget – if published on a local government unit’s website or if there is a clearly stated direct link to a website containing that document. If published in a local government unit’s official gazette, it is deemed to be published only if there is a clearly stated direct link to this particular document (e.g. ‘the 2018 budget’) or to the official gazette in which it can be found on the local government unit’s website. Otherwise, the document is not deemed to be published on the local government unit’s website. Such a decision was taken in response to the frequently inadequate searchability of official gazettes.
  • Mid-year and year-end reports – if published on a local government unit’s website under those titles, or as proposals for (drafts of) mid-year/year-end budget reports, as part of materials for a meeting, or if there is a clearly stated direct link to the websites containing such documents. If published in a local government unit’s official gazette, they are deemed to be published only if there is a clearly stated direct link on the local government unit’s website to these particular documents (e.g. ‘the 2017 mid-year report’), or the official gazette in which they can be found.
  • Citizens budget – if any kind of simplified budget documents, intended for citizens, has been published on a local government unit’s website (e.g. “budgets in a nutshell”, presentations, guides or brochures), or if there is a clearly stated direct link to the websites containing such documents.

 

When was the level of transparency of local budgets measured?

The publication of the 2015 year-end and 2016 mid-year reports was examined from 2 November to 22 December 2016, and the publication of the 2017 budget proposal, 2017 enacted budget and 2017 citizens budget from 1 February to 26 March 2017.

The analysis underlying this map only includes documents that were available on the local units’ websites on the day of their examination.
 
The subsequently published documents are deemed unpublished. The observed periods for local units have already been generous, as the websites were assessed well after the dates when the budget documents had been required to be produced. Timeliness is an essential feature of budget transparency, because without timely information citizens can not be informed in the right moment or participate in budget processes.

 

Basis for requesting documents

With a view to increasing budget transparency, the Ministry of Finance has recommended to local units that the following budget documents should be published on their official websites:
budget proposal - when submitted to the representative body by the executive body (by 15 November of a current year);

  • enacted budget - when passed by the representative body (by the end of a current year);
  • draft year-end report - when submitted to the representative body by the executive body (by 1 June of a current year for the previous year);
  • draft mid-year report - when submitted to the representative body by the executive body (by 15 September of a current year); and
  • citizens budget accompanying the budget proposal (by 15 November of a current year).

 

Press corner

Here you can get all the materials related to the presentation of the local government units' budget transparency results: November 2016 – March 2017.

 

Thanks for the support

The presentation of this research is supported by:

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