About the project
Objectives of the project
The main objective of the project is to contribute to the improvement of the financial health of towns, cities and higher territorial units. We hope to achieve this with the help of the following targets:
- Collection and release of the data on the financial health of all the 2928 towns and 8 higher territorial units (HTU) for years 2006 – 2013. We will release the data that are collected (but not disclosed) by the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic (Datacentrum), as well as all the data necessary for the assessment of the financial stability, gained through an online survey in the towns
- Creation of a permanent platform for publication of the data in a user-friendly way (including charts and filters) on our webpage.
- Analysis of the financial stability of 50 biggest Slovak cities and 8 HTUs.
- Recommendations for legal amendments and establishment of sanctions to improve compliance with the criteria.
- Presentation of the project’s results to the general public and the public agents. Outputs will be primarily aimed at:
- General public – by receiving more information, the citizens and the media will be able to demand responsible behavior from their mayors and HTU administrators.
- Towns, cities and HTUs – mayors and HTU chairmen will receive a feedback on their governing.
- Ministry of Finance – the politicians will be more able to consider which data should be collected from the towns, how to redefine the legal criteria for the financial stability and what sanctions to install.
Project activities
- Definition of the financial stability indicators, including their review by banks’ analysts and professionals from rating agencies.
- Webpage design which will enable the assessment of the financial health of the towns, cities and HUTs. It will be possible to arrange them and filter according to customized criteria.
- Collection of the data – in compliance with the law on free access to information, we will access the data from the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic (Datacentrum). We will gain the additional information by inquiring among the representatives of the towns, cities and HUTs.
- Visualization of the acquired data on the webpage of the project.
- Calculation of financial indicators and their presentation on the project website.
- Formulation of recommendations for redefining of the legal criteria and installment of sanctions – we will consult changes and suggestions with external experts and if necessary we will organize a seminary with competent people from the Ministry of Finance.
- An agreement on a regular database update – we will try to agree on an annual disclosure and release of data with the Ministry of Finance, which should secure the sustainability of the project.
News on the portal
September 14, 2013
We published a blog and an analysis on the financial management of 50 biggest cities in the Slovak Republic.
August 27, 2012
We published a blog and an analysis on the financial stability of the higher territorial units in the Slovak Republic.
August 24, 2012
Since today, the portal on the financial management of towns, cities and higher territorial units, together with the portal on the evaluation of the primary and secondary schools, are available on the webpage of the daily newspaper SME. You can find them here: obce.sme.sk, skoly.sme.sk.
August 8, 2012
We published an analysis and a blog with recommendations for the improvement of the monitoring of the financial management of the towns and HUTs. Both documents can be found in the section “Outputs”.
May 30, 2012
We added some pointers and indicators for the year 2011 (for both towns and HUTs) and modified the methodology including the method for the calculation of the financial health and its partial score.
May 15, 2012
We launched the first version of the portal with the pointers and indicators for the years 2006 – 2011 (partially available for the year 2011).
Said about us
"Let me thank (…) the whole INEKO team for the work they do for the local governments by processing the information about the financial management of towns and cities. I know that it is not easy (…). It is clear that effectiveness cannot be evaluated from behind the desk, but I appreciate your effort to objectively evaluate the state of the financial management of towns and cities. It is a great tool for us administrators for persuading political elites about the accuracy of our decisions."
Miroslav Karpiš, Head of the economical department of Kežmarok city
"Let me respectfully thank for your portal on the evaluation of the local governments. It is the most complex work tool for us."
Štefan Daško, mayor of Ilava
Kontakt
INEKO
INEKO - Institute for Economic and Social Reforms
Bajkalská 25
827 18 Bratislava 212
Slovakia
web: http://www.ineko.sk
mail: obce@ineko.sk
Tel.: 02 / 5341 1020
Fax: 02 / 5823 3487
Authors
Peter Goliaš
Peter Klátik
Matej Tunega