Budget transparency in Croatian counties, cities and municipalities (November 2017 - March 2018)

Abstract

The overall average budget transparency of Croatian counties, cities and municipalities is far from being satisfactory as even the most transparent counties rate below the 50%. Although a major improvement in budget transparency cannot be expected without both a major reform of the country's territorial organization and fiscal (de)centralization, certain examples – some pertaining to smaller and relatively less well off local units – do show that, even under present circumstances, improvements can be achieved. And fiscal and economic crisis, corruption scandals and high deficit and debt levels – all requiring greater fiscal discipline and a more efficient public sector – make those improvements more and more necessary by the day. This paper aims to analyze the openness, i.e. the transparency of the Croatian local units' budgets and to determine whether an improvement has been achieved in the course of the last year. 1 Budget transparency implies that the information regarding the budget accessible to the general public is complete, relevant, correct, issued in a timely manner and presented in an understandable format. 2 For the purposes of this research, budget transparency is measured by the number of key budget documents published by local units, with the level of transparency being scored on a scale from 0 to 7. Budget transparency allows the general public to obtain information and influence decisions about collecting and spending of public money. In this manner, a more efficient collection of money and provision of public goods and services can be attained, increasing accountability in the public sector and limiting the space for political corruption. Factors normally considered beneficial for budget transparency – fiscal and economic crisis demanding tighter fiscal discipline; major corruption scandals opening up political maneuvering space for the introduction of reforms which in turn lead to improved public access to budget information; a high level of debt entailing the need to enhance the efficiency of the collection and use