Přehled o publikaci

The study addresses the development of the financial management of municipalities, taking into account the question of the extent to which the Covid-19 pandemic and the tax reforms introduced in 2021 were reflected in the amounts of the income and expenditure of municipalities during the monitored period. Attention is also devoted to the significant implications of the development of income and expenditure during this period with concern to the field of social services. The research involved the secondary analysis of CZSO and Ministry of Finance data on the management of municipalities. In addition, a questionnaire survey was conducted of representatives of municipalities with authorised municipal offices aimed at highlighting how the budgets of type 2 and 3 municipalities were determined and implemented during the monitored period. Individual and group interviews were also conducted with representatives of municipalities and social services providers in selected administrative districts of municipalities with extended jurisdiction. The findings were subsequently discussed at a seminar attended by experts involved in the provision and financing of social services. The total incomes and total expenditures of the municipalities increased during the monitored period. Despite ever-increasing costs, the total expenditure of a large number of municipalities was still lower than their incomes. The most important type of municipal income comprises income from taxes. This source of income decreased in 2020 and increased in 2021; however, compared to 2019, the increase corresponded to a one-year rather than a two-year time interval prior to the pandemic. Although the share of tax revenue of the total revenue of the municipalities was lower in 2020–2021 than before the pandemic, the reduction in the tax revenue in these years was compensated for by other types of revenue. In terms of total income, it is important to note that concerning more than one-third of the municipalities covered, year-on-year values of the change in total income deviated very significantly from the relevant indicator determined for all the municipalities. In 2019, two-fifths of the municipalities that participated in the questionnaire survey reported negative income and expenditure balances and just under one-third in the period 2020–2021. Of the municipalities surveyed, a slight prevalence was determined for those municipalities whose representatives thought it necessary to design their 2023 budgets with a deficit. In the case of unplanned reductions in income or increases in expenditure, municipal authorities preferred to use the various procedures in place to stabilise their budgets rather than to implement across-theboard reductions in planned expenditure. No significant changes were determined by the research in terms of the social priorities of municipalities or in the provision of social services during the monitored period. The main topics of the interviews with representatives from social service providers concerned the increasing costs faced by the organisations involved and the need to adapt to the situation, as well as the procedures via which social service providers responded to such situations. The research highlighted situations in which it is difficult to reconcile the stable management of municipalities as a whole with the stable management of the social services sector. However, the incompatibility of these objectives was mentioned in only a relatively small number of cases and primarily in connection with specific situations. The situation of municipalities varies significantly, as do the options available to solve the related issues.