Financing Municipal Tasks in Slovenia

The paper examines whether the system implemented for financing local communities (municipalities) in Slovenia in the period 2010-2016 is compliant with the European Charter of Local Self-Government. We examined the cost coverage for performing the tasks of municipalities, the cost structure and the rate of interconnections between the budgeted funds under the eligible expenditure mechanism and the data collected on costs by municipality. Our hypothesis states that the principles whereby funding would be commensurate with the tasks were not fulfilled in the period between 2010 and 2016 in the Republic of Slovenia given that the average per capita costs exceeded the funding under eligible expenditure. The findings show that although the principles of the European Charter of Local Self-Government have been satisfactorily included in the country's laws, certain discrepancies have been found with regard to funding where the principle of municipal funding had not adequately been taken into account to ensure that funding is commensurate with the tasks.