ZAGREB, March 5, 2018 – The Institute of Public Finance (IJF) has presented a survey of municipal, town and county budgets in 2016 which shows that the average expenditure per capita in counties was 1,052 kuna, while municipalities on average spent 2,979 kuna per capita and towns spent 5,141 kuna per capita in 2016.
The IJF’s newsletter with the survey notes that, although local government units generate a relatively high income per capita, that does not necessarily mean they are doing well. For example, the Municipality of Civljane in the Dalmatian hinterland was one of 18 that recorded the highest budget revenue per capita, however, more than 75% of that was in state aid (that is 1.9 million out of 2.5 million kuna).
Sutivan on the island of Brač was among municipalities with the highest revenue per capita, 16,782 kuna, followed by Vir (16,142 kuna) and Baška (15,639 kuna). It is interesting to note that all three municipalities are in the Croatian Adriatic region. Of the 18 highest-earning municipalities in 2016, only three weren’t on the coast.
The lowest revenue per capita was recorded by the Municipality of Pojezerje (757 kuna) in the Dubrovnik area.
Of the 181 municipalities with revenue lower than 2,200 kuna per capita – Vela Luka and Ražanac – were on the coast.
As far as towns are concerned, the highest earning per capita were once again on the coast – Novalja (13,702 kuna), Novigrad (11,139 kuna) and Umag (11,116 kuna).
The towns with the lowest revenue per capita are Novi Marof (1,423 kuna), Lepoglava (1,438 kuna) and Metković (1,572 kuna).
Of the 22 towns with revenue higher than 6,000 kuna per capita, only Zagreb and Ludbreg are not on the coast, whereas of the 63 towns with revenue lower than 3,500 kuna per capita only two are on the coast – Kaštela and Ploče.
If one excludes the City of Zagreb, which had revenue of 6.4 billion kuna and which accounts for more than 40% of the total revenue of all towns, the towns with the highest revenue include Split (743.7 million kuna) followed by Rijeka (679.7 million kuna.) The towns with the lowest revenue include Klanjec (5.7 million kuna) and Opuzen (7.2 million kuna).
IJF notes that as many as 11 towns and 34 municipalities had higher revenue per capita than Zagreb (8,135 kuna).
According to the report, 52 municipalities had populations of more than 5,000, with six having a population above 10,000 (Viškovo, Nedelišće, Čepin, Matulji, Brdovec and Pitomača), while 60 towns had populations below 10,000, 18 of which had less than 5,000 with the smallest being Komiža on the island of Vis with the population of about 1,500.
As many as 37 municipalities had a population of less than 1,000 – Civljane (239), Zadvarje (289) and Lanišće (329), IJF said in its report.
