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

The main goal of the project is to provide the public with relevant data on the financial management of each town, city and higher territorial unit since 2006. The project was created with the financial support from the Open Society Institute. We believe that increasing awareness of these figures will improve the financial management of individual towns, as the mayors will be driven to do so. With the help of the timelines, each user can compare the pursuits of the mayors to improve the town’s economy.

The data is taken from the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic. They are not always data required by the law, and they can differ from the data in the towns’ accounting records. We try to detect and correct any potential differences. The data is not an assessment of the effectivity of the town’s economy, but of its sustainability.

This project was supported by a grant from the Foundation Open Society Institute in cooperation with the Think Tank Fund of the Open Society Foundations. The project is run by INEKO Institute which is a non-governmental non-profit organization established in support of economic and social reforms which aim to remove barriers to the long-term positive development of the Slovak economy and society. INEKO is not responsible for the full functionality of portals created by INEKO or third parties, or for the accuracy of data displayed on the created portals.