Four counties – Primorje-Gorski Kotar, Istria, Međimurje, and Šibenik-Knin – will publish their complete budgets online by the end of September, making them accessible to all citizens who will be able to see how their money is being used. This is part of the ‘Open Budget’ project of the Association of Counties and its partner, the data processing company Coin. It is planned that by the end of the year, all counties will have open and accessible budgets online, which will encourage competitiveness among counties and increase their efficiency.
Last year, counties allocated the most from a total of 3.77 million kuna for education, health care, and social protection, accounting for a total of 56 percent of the budget.
– This clearly shows that in accordance with their capabilities, counties recognize the priorities of the local community, emphasized the president of the Croatian Association of Counties, Goran Pauk.
Funding for local and regional self-government units in 2015 was reduced compared to 2014 by as much as 1.7 billion kuna. The largest decrease was in revenue from income tax and surtax, which is a consequence of the amendment to the Income Tax Act.
– The amendment to this law has most adversely affected counties, as it can be assumed that cities and municipalities have partially compensated for this loss by increasing the surtax rate, which counties cannot do, comments Pauk.
Moreover, county heads, regardless of party affiliation, are anxiously watching the election campaign as the largest parties announce new reductions in income tax, which will be another blow to local self-government.
