Paper/Speech Details of Conference Program for the 19th NISPAcee Annual Conference Program Overview Local Government Author(s) Evgenija Gramatikova Association of Finance Officers of Local Governments & Public Enterprises Strumica Republic of North Macedonia Title How the decentralization process influx to the current and further development of the municipality of Strumica File Paper files are available only for conference participants, please login first. Presenter Abstract Title: How the decentralization process affects the current and further development of the municipality of Strumica Principal objective: to produce analysis of the economic development with financing of infrastructural objects in the municipality of Strumica before and after transfer of the authorities from central to local level according to the Law on local self-government from 2002, which started with its functioning with the start of the first phase of the decentralization in 2005 Scope of the research – economic development and communal infrastructure of the municipality of Strumica before and after conducting of the decentralization process in Republic of Macedonia Methodology Republic of Macedonia is a member of the European Charter for local government and the Council of Europe since 1997. The decentralization and reforms of the local self governments commenced in 1999, and in 2002 the new Law on local government was adopted. Conduction of the new legislation for the local government was implemented in phases, and the first phase started in July 2005, with enforcement of all laws perceived with the government Program for decentralization, from which the most important were the Law on financing of the local self-government units and Law on territorial organization of the local government. The municipality of Strumica in the period of communism was social-political community, which was functioning especially in behalf of the state. It covered the territory that currently possess, but also the territory of 3 municipalities that are established according to the latest (current) territorial division, i.e. the municipalities of Vasilevo, Bosilovo and Novo Selo. Namely, in the process of decentralization the area of the municipality of Strumica changed 3 times; in the period till 1996 Strumica encompassed the territory of the current municipality of Strumica and the municipalities Kuklis and Murtino, Vasilevo, Bosilovo and Novo Selo; in the period from 1996 till 2004 according to the Law on territorial division from 1996 the above mentioned settlements received a status of Municipalities, but in 2004 according to the new (current) territorial division the municipalities of Kuklis and Murtino affiliated to the municipality of Strumica, and as special municipalities remained Novo Selo, Bosilovo and Vasilevo. All these transformations reflected to the complete economic development through the development of local infrastructure, more concretely road network, water supply network, sewage system and other infrastructural objects, as well as their financing. With this research the following activities will be conducted: - analysis of the legal regulation (before decentralization and now) - analysis of the capital incomes and expenditures in the period 2004-2010 - analysis of the financial transfers that refer to the building of the infrastructural objects which are significant for the municipality from central to local level in all phases of the decentralization - analysis of the local financing of infrastructural objects in the whole period encompassed with the survey - analysis of the opportunities that are offered with the new Law on equal regional development that is foreseeing opening of 8 centers for regional development within the country in order to develop mutual initiatives for development of the municipalities Expected results and findings: - clarified reforms that appeared as a result of political changes, with special attention to fiscal decentralization by phases - clarified procedure of financing of the municipalities in the period of communism (when the most of the infrastructural objects were financed through the central government) and the current conditions when the municipality undertook the most of the authorities for financing of the infrastructural objects in the process of decentralization - clarified effects that had the transfer of these authorities, or decentralization, for local government in Republic of Macedonia, through presenting a study of the municipality of Strumica. Basic conclusions: Financing of some of the authorities that passed from the central to the local government in the decentralization process affected the complete operating of the local government in Republic of Macedonia. Law on local government perceives the local economic development as competence of the municipalities and gives them a possibility to build methods for planning and conducting activities for local economic development. With this research I would like to give description how the financing of infrastructural objects affected to the development of the local government, through the example of the municipality of Strumica, having into consideration the Law on equal regional development. REVISED VERSION
