The best practices
Decentralized State Administration
Act No. 221/1996 Col. concerning the territorial and administrative arrangement of Slovakia and the Act No. 222/1996 Col. on the organization of local state administration, and alterations and amendments to certain other laws, have created a new system of decentralized state administration. The system is made up of 8 regional and 79 district offices. Most policy areas of local state administration are administered within these offices. Only tax offices, customs offices, military administration offices, inspection administration and some miscellaneous bodies carry out their activities outside these offices.
Regional and district offices exercise state administration in the areas of:
Within the scope of their terms of reference and under a special law, regional and district offices may issue for their territories generally binding regulations.
The district office exercises state administration in the above areas unless the regional office, other body of state administration, municipality or other corporate body are responsible by law. The district office is competent at the first instance to decide on rights or obligations of natural persons and corporate bodies in the area of state administration, unless otherwise provided for by law.
The regional office co-ordinates joint activities with other state administration authorities and local self-government bodies in providing economic and social development of the territory, especially in encouraging healthy ways of living and in developing education, culture, tourism and state care of youth and physical education.
The regional office co-ordinates the activity of district offices, other state authorities and municipalities in the region during hazards to life of health of citizens or property due to emergency risks or after a major emergency which cannot be dealt with by district bodies alone. In given cases, the regional office principal is entitled to impose tasks on and give orders to district office principals, other state authority heads and municipal mayors in the region.
"Principals" direct the regional office and district offices; both the regional office principal and the district office principal are appointed and recalled by the government on the advice of the minister of the interior.
Regional and district offices are supervised by the government. Appropriate line ministries are in charge of supervision and direction of execution of state administration in the scope of their competence. Coordination is ensured by the Ministry of Interior.
Every regional office is an independent budgetary category and the budgetary amounts allocated are determined by the Act on state budget. The total budget of the regional offices amounts to around 47,6 billion Slovak crowns (SKK), approximately one-fifth of the total state budget.
Expenditures of regional and district offices (1999) are mainly directed towards education (53.8 per cent), with a further 30per cent going to social care facilities and social allowances to citizens. Regional and district offices employ 18 897 employees. Out of total expenditures, wage expenditures and financial conscription to funds represent 50.2 per cent.
Regional Government
There is currently no regional self-government in Slovakia.
Local Government
The first step of local public administration reform took place after the principal constitutional changes in the beginning of 1990. The self-government of municipalities and towns was renewed. Regions were abolished and local state administration was organized.
Local state administration bodies and local self-government bodies have by virtue of law strictly separated competencies. At the same time co-ordination principles in the solving of particular situations (such as territorial planning and emergency situations) are determined.
As of 31 December 1998, there were 5 393 382 inhabitants resident in 2 874 municipalities in Slovakia, of which 136 had the status of a town and four were military districts. Over two-thirds of the total number of municipalities have a population of less than 1 000.
Local self-government may issue ordinances, which are binding on all individuals or corporate bodies within their jurisdiction. These ordinances may only be cancelled by the Constitutional Court or the National Council. Local governments may be delegated additional powers necessary for state administration, and these must be financed by state funds. Interference with the powers of local authorities is possible only by law.
The executive body of a municipality is the elected mayor. The mayor summons and conducts the sessions of local representative bodies, represents municipality externally and decides on all matters of local administration, except those which, according to law, are decided by municipal assembly.
Municipal offices consist of local administrative officials responsible for administrative and organizational matters in the work of the mayor and other activities of the bodies of municipality. In larger municipalities, a municipal office may be run by a principal appointed by the municipal assembly on the advice of the mayor. He is responsible to the mayor.
Local self-government bodies may freely associate with other local self-government bodies and thus may form regional or interest organizations. Such associations, however, may decide and administer only those matters specifically referred to the competence of local self-government.
The budgets of municipalities and towns are autonomous parts of the public budgets. They are connected to state budget and state funds budgets by revenues from shared taxes (income tax and road tax), which represent 25.3 per cent of total revenues of municipalities (1998). Further, purpose-bound and non-purpose-bound grants and transfers of current and capital character represent 13.1 per cent of total incomes of municipalities. Other revenues come from the municipality's own activities (including real estate tax, 11.1 per cent) and loans, 10.2 per cent. Municipalities' budget revenues in 1998 represented a total amount of 28.9 billion SKK and expenditures were 27.4 billion SKK. Expenditures were oriented mostly to services to citizens (45.7 per cent of total) and to administration (22.3 per cent of total). Capital expenditures represented 35.5 per cent of total expenditures of municipalities and towns.
Using Videos to Train Local Government Officials
Haniska, Slovakia
Population: 549
Territory : 1.90 sq. km
Challenges Facing the Community
Village mayors and deputies in Slovakia have not been systematically trained for their positions before entering their offices. This problem is obvious especially in villages, when an unprepared citizen enters an office of importance in the local council. He or she would like to be fully useful for the village immediately, yet lacks even essential knowledge about his or her rights and responsibilities. The problem of insufficient know-how in village management concerns especially mayors and deputies, but also local citizens.
Experience of government officials has shown that they must initially orient themselves in the scope of their responsibilities. Some deputies who serve voluntarily, have a full-time professional employment in quite a different specialization from their government position. Training of these officials is usually organized in the county or regional center, which increases costs of this training. Thus villages often cannot afford to send their representatives to this training for lack of funds and time, which negatively affects quality of their work.
Solution
In order to address the aforementioned problems, the project "Training for Self Government Officials through Rotating Videos" has been organized. The initiator of the project was Mr. Ladislav Jambrich, the mayor of the village Haniska and the chairman of the NGO SOVA. Mr. Jambrich initiated the founding of the NGO SOVA and gathered activists for the project, which is now managed by this civic association. Five local citizens participate in the project as volunteers and one is a full-time employee. There are also some external volunteers, all of them non-professionals. Renowned experts provide professional advice on the screenplay. JUDr. Jozef Sotolar manages legal matters and Prof. Michal Sarafin the serial "Renewal of A Village".
The videos provide access to relevant expert information materials in real time and they speed up individual training of mayors, deputies and citizens. This system does not require additional funding which is necessary in case of training of self-government officials outside the village.
The officials of self-governments in towns and villages are the major target group, though not the only one. The videos are relevant to the citizens of Slovakia, the "Association of Towns and Villages of Slovakia" (ZMOS), "Union of Towns and Villages of Slovakia" and possibly the foreign branches of the Carpathian Foundation, which may take up the role of a mediator for sharing experiences and best practices with other regions of the Carpathian Euroregion.
Results
Funds to the village Haniska covered the costs of production of the following videos:
1. "The Most Common Mistakes of Village Mayors" - Author: JUDr. Jozef Sotolar
In an attractive way, this video informs new mayors about the basic issues of their office and on the valid Act on Local Self-governments.
2. "Renewal of A Village, Part I, Nice Fence - Nice Village" - Author: Prof. Michal Sarafin
This is the first part of the theme, which is widely discussed across Europe. The sequential parts of the serial will discuss nice front yards, new streets, etc.
These two videos have become the basis for further activities, which were prepared by the NGO SOVA and supported by the village as well as other sponsors.
1. "How and Why to Build Cycle Routes in Towns and Villages" - Authors: Viera Stupakova and cycle group Kostitras (Boneshaker) of Presov
This video resulted from the cooperation between the village and cycle enthusiasts, organized in the NGO Boneshaker. The authors won the competition for the best project in Slovakia in 1997. Members of this NGO promote cycling in a very professional way. They contributed to the promotion and building of the needed cycle routes.
(Funding from the Royal Dutch Embassy helped to produce this video)
2. "How Can a Building Commission Help Mayor" - Authors: Prof. Michal Sarafin and the students of architecture from the Slovak
Technical University, Bratislava.
This video is still being created. The first part of the series is aimed at building commissions of local self-governments. It is based on an annual competition for students of architecture, who create about a hundred models of small, functional constructions of public interest, which complement infrastructure in the villages. The video will be supplemented by the examples of the already realized constructions.
This theme will be published annually, and in 1999 will be supplemented by the pilot models from the competition "Small Architecture for the Housing Estate". Businessmen who advertise at the end of the video covered the overhead costs. The sale of the videos will provide funds for the competition. In this way a database of models of small constructions is being created, which can be used to beautify villages and housing estates.
Follow up
There is an inquiry among mayors concerning required themes for training. One of the criteria is "What we should train people in the future?" The starting point will be the serial Renewal of A Village, especially its part Small Architecture for Village and Housing Estate, enriched each year by the annual competition for the students of architecture. The village of Haniska is open to cooperation and offers the outputs of the project abroad, starting in the Carpathian Euroregion. All the work has been and will be motivated by the idea of being useful for local self-governments, while themes of their videos may address also various civic groups. In the future they intend to work also in the fields of health prevention, nature protection, and other significant matters concerning the villages.
Contact address:
Local Government, Obecny urad
Bajzova 4
080 01 Haniska
Slovakia
Tel: +421 91 733926
Fax: +421 91 723469
Solution to an Environmental Problem
Turna nad Bodvou, Slovakia
Population: 3,097
Territory: 22 sq km
Challenges Facing the Community
In Turna, like in many villages in Slovakia, collection of communal waste is done by 110 liter containers, which are emptied once a week and the waste is disposed off at the landfill site. The village of Turna was facing increasing costs associated with this service.
Several facts speeded up the search for a solution to the waste disposal problem in Turna:
If this traditional collection and disposal of waste was continued, citizens of the village would have had to pay over 1.2 million SKK for this service per year, which is 20% of the village budget. These facts forced a rapid change in waste management strategy and procedures.
In 1995 the situation analysis was carried out and information on a similar project in Moldava nad Bodvou was studied. This project concerned separated communal waste collection, and was prepared by a consulting firm. Then in Turna, a similar proposal was prepared which was approved by the local government.
Solution
In May 1998 a subsidy was received for the purchase of equipment to help to solve the communal waste problem. The question how to solve this problem was divided into two levels:
At that time community leaders - mayor, chairman of the environmental commission, director of public management of housing and services, attended a training seminar on waste separation, organized by the NGO Society of Friends of the Earth in Kosice. At this seminar new contacts were made. Later, in cooperation with the new partners, technical solutions for waste separation were prepared, which would be the cheapest and most suitable for the community and others involved.
The success of the project depended on the preparedness and participation of the local citizens. It was very important that they realized they were part of the team, which aimed at solving a problem.
As the first step, a poster was delivered to each household, with acknowledgement of receipt in Slovak and Hungarian. Through the 26th of June 1998, 120 families returned the acknowledgement with the answer that they wished to participate in the separated waste collection program.
At about the same time, students from primary schools established a "student parliament". Under the guidance of the mayor, parliament meets twice a month to discuss various problems in the village. One of the discussed themes was "What shall we do with domestic waste - it threatens to bury us". At these meetings students technically solved the problem of separation of waste directly at the source - in the households.
Based on the feedback from their parents, students talked about separation of waste with their parents and started separation of waste in their households. Children enjoyed the fact that they were asked for an advice and that they found a solution themselves. In addition to this, there were other educational activities at school.
Following this preparatory stage, the members of student parliament, the members of the NGO Society of Friends of the Earth, and the mayor of Turna nad Bodvou, personally visited all citizens of the village in November 1998, explaining to them in detail about the separated waste collection program. The inhabitants received appropriate bags for waste separation. Thus there was minimal opposition to the project and at the end of December separated waste started to be collected.
Results
In family houses waste is collected once a month, in housing estates every Monday between 4 - 6 P.M. Each collection is evaluated for evidence and eventual feedback.
In order to ensure regular meetings, a "compost party" was organized in December 1998, attended by the mayor and local deputies, where it was explained to the local people about the basics of composting in the housing estate, and brochures on composting were distributed.
Primary schools announced competition for the Most Beautiful Aluminum-Eater, motivating children to collect aluminum waste at home.
Follow up
In the future it is expected that the system of waste separation will be improved. Local government in Turna would like to promote the results of the project, publish information brochures and disseminate the results of this project in the surrounding villages and across the region.
Contact address:
Local Self-government - Obecny urad
044 02 Turna nad Bodvou
Slovakia
Tel: +421 943 4662101
Complex Solution of the Roma Problem in the Village
Svinia, Slovakia
Population: 1,300
Territory: 14.73 sq. km
Challenges Facing the Community
The village of Svinia has 1300 inhabitants out of which 630 are Roma. About 400 of the Roma population (63%) are younger than 18 , only 3 are older than 60.
Before the floods in 1998, the Roma people lived in blocks of flats in the special "Roma village" and in 60 small clay houses located near the river Mala Svinka. The settlement lacked the basic infrastructure and they had to walk 200 meters to get fresh water from the local spring because there was no water supply system.
None of the Roma inhabitants had employment. The village had the infamous status of the most underdeveloped village in Slovakia.
In the summer 1998 there were disastrous floods which destroyed almost the entire Roma village as well as the relations between the Roma and non-Roma villagers. There was hardly any communication or cooperation among the inhabitants.
Solution
The project attempted to solve the problem of the poor quality of life of the Roma population and to improve the interethnic relations in the village. The initiative came from the mayor of the village, Dr. David Z. Sheffel, Head of the Department of Cultural Anthropology at University of the Cariboo in Kamploops (British Columbia, Canada), the Director of the Civic Association Minoritas - Mgr. Alexander Musinka, who is also cultural anthropologist at the Presov University, and Mr. Daniel Rican from Czech Republic, who is a long term activist of YMCA and the Scout organization. The project was supported by the Canadian International Development Agency.
The first step in the project was a detailed monitoring of the Roma village. Two of the mentioned activists moved with their families into the Roma village. They carried out monitoring and prepared the detailed evidence of the population, including photo documentation. Through personal meetings with the Roma people they collected information about the needs, skills and interests of the Romanies. At the same time it was necessary to help the Roma village to deal with the consequences of the floods.
Each project activity addressed needs and requirements of Roma people and was implemented after the consultation with the Romanies and in close cooperation with them. A number of citizens helped as volunteers.
Results
1. Creation of better living conditions:
- the sewage system in the Roma village was reconstructed;
- the source of the drinking water was cleaned and the water was taken through pipes directly to the village;
- the waste started to be collected regularly;
- a "dry toilet" was built for each Roma family;
- the electricity network was built and the Roma village got public lights;
- some Roma families got a phone line and there were some public phones boxes in the village;
- a new shop was opened.
2. Political culture and safety:
- a Roma self-government was formed;
their problems, how to find solutions, how to communicate with the local officials, and how to communicate inside the community, etc.;
Solving the Roma Problems. This Commission was created by the local self-government.
"citizen's eye". They are closely cooperating with the local police.
3. Education:
- a group of 10-15 young people had regular meetings in the kindergarten in the evening. They have were learning the basic skills for their every day life, such as reading, writing, counting, family budget, healthy food, program against drugs, the role of the local government and state offices, etc.
4. Employment
- women started with the handicrafts,
- each family took care of 20 chickens and an agreement with the agricultural farm ensures a piece of land was rented to 50 families for growing vegetables.
5. Social field
- Roma people receive social benefits twice a week depending on their situation, part of the benefits comes in cash and part in the form of tickets for buying goods with the exception of alcohol
6. Religion, culture and sport:
- the village started building a community center for Roma people, which should help their religious and cultural development;
- a Roma soccer team has been created
The non-measurable results of the project are:
- a better quality of life for the Roma people;
- better relations between the majority and the minority;
Follow up
This project is a good model of complex solution of the Roma problems. It has been tested in real life and works well.
The village plans for a new community center for Roma and non- Roma children and youth in the old building of the parsonage. The reconstructed building will serve as a center joint activities which will improve the relations and cooperation between the Roma and non-Roma community in the village.
The reconstruction of a small soccer stadium and building a new sports center are planned. These facilities shall be part of drug prevention program.
Contact Address:
Obecny urad Svinia
Hlavna 87/10
082 32 Svinia
Slovakia
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