04 PC Eurasia USAblue
25/9/08
23:45
PĂĄgina 110
EURA SIA 110
United Cities and Local Governments
rule, local state authorities and local selfgovernments do not have adequate financial resources for maintaining public services in the fields of education, public health and social aid, though total budgets grow constantly. In Tajikistan, public health and social services are not handled by local governments. However, local budgets finance 7% and 8% of expenditure on social aid and education. Another model exists in Uzbekistan: 100% of expenditure on social insurance is covered by local budgets. Meanwhile, social aid, public health and education costs are financed as follows: about 20% by the state, approximately 50% by regional budgets, and 20% to 30% by district budgets. In 2005, Russian Federation local budgets financed 22% of expenditure on public health, 16% on social policy and 43% on education. Water, energy and public transportation. In Russia, responsibility for public transportation, and for providing water, energy, gas and heat falls to local selfgovernment. Organs of self-government have received broad powers and may have appropriate objects in municipal property, which permit them to implement these functions. In Armenia, infrastructures of gas, energy and water supplies used for municipal needs may be transferred, according to the Law “On Local Selfgovernment,� to municipal property. In Belarus, Ukraine and in the states of Central Asia, the functions of water and energy supplies and public transport are within the province of local state administrations. They are obligated to provide for the management and maintenance of local services, and to grant subsidies to users. Nevertheless, it is necessary to note that local budgets are not always able to provide adequately for the management and maintenance of these functions due to shabby condition and a shortage of financial means.
Business development support. In Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia and Ukraine, support to business development may be provided at all levels: by central, regional and local state bodies, as well as by local self-government. Several countries, including Russia, not only affirm the right of local self-government to support business development, they also provide necessary financial resources. In the states of Central Asia, support for business development comes primarily from central state entities. Nevertheless, the role of local state authorities is also considerable. Local governing bodies are responsible for licensing economic activities at the local level, granting permission for construction of community nets and buildings, organizing tenders for the provision of social services, and managing the sale of community property. A summary table on functions of local authorities is presented below (see table 4).
III.3. Administrative capacity Efficient execution of powers by local authorities is determined not only by adequate financing, but also by a well-organized professional municipal or state local service. Municipal service. The notion of municipal service in the nations of Eurasia is applied to the level of local self-government. Unlike many other countries, the Eurasian countries generally do not include employees engaged in the sphere of education. Municipal service is regarded as a professional activity that has to be exercised independently of state bodies, regardless of political forces and results of local elections. In all countries of the region, the executive bodies of city municipalities function on a more professional level. Rural territorial communities have far fewer municipal employees, and their knowledge of munici-