The financial sector is characterised by numerous changes that affect the changes in the institutional structure of functioning of the financial system, as well as the choice of funding of business entities. This has resulted in the fact that in contemporary business conditions, financing of economic development become a complex area of research. Local development planning on the basis of public revenues is a weak base for the rapid development of local governments. Therefore, it is necessary to supplement the budget financing by attracting private capital for the construction of public goods and improving the quality of public services. In this regard, the objective of this paper is to point to alternative ways of borrowing, both from domestic and international sources of funding, as well as to the possibilities for their use by the local governments. Bearing in mind the defined objective, the paper discusses the possible external sources of funding of local governments, such as loans from commercial banks and other financial institutions, and municipal bonds. In order to evaluate the possibilities for successful development of local governments, the paper points to the possible solutions to financing projects of public importance in the practice of Serbia.
Local self-government units are key cells of every country's development, pervading deeply needs and interests of local community members, the citizens of a state, who are considered to be the key factor in survival and development of a community. No successful democratic society can be achieved without a good and effi cient local self-government. For that reason, a special attention needs to be brought to the issue of local self-government units. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, there is a fragmented system of local self-governmentmunits at entity level, with a very low degree of mutual cooperation, which greatly complicates and hinders the functioning of local self-government units at the state level. There is no unity in regulation and compliance of local self-government units functioning, at the state level, with the European Charter of Local Self-Government, or the documents of the Council of Europe, which is at odds with the aspirations of our country in the process of Euro-Atlantic integration with the rest of Europe.
Centralna hipoteza koja se kroz ovaj rad analizirala jeste da li municipalne obveznice mogu biti instrument lokalnog ekonomskog razvoja. Ovo pitanje je od velikog značaja imajući u vidu da u procesu pridruživanja Srbije Evropskoj Uniji, lokalna samouprava će imati puno obaveza u svojoj nadležnosti, a vrednost projekata koje bi lokalne samouprave na putu ka Evropskoj Uniji trebale da finansiraju (samostalno ili u saradnji sa donatorima, centralnim nivoom vlasti, privatnim sektorom.) se procenjuje na između 3 i 5 milijardi evra. Dosadašnji pristup finansiranju investicionih projekata svakako neće biti dovoljan da se izađe u susret gore pomenutim zahtevima, pa je i glavna tema ovog rada šta lokalne samouprave treba da učine da bi kvalitativno unapredile proces finansiranja investicionih projekata u njihovoj nadležnosti. Sa nekih 15% budžetske potrošnje na lokalnom nivou, Srbija spada u red srednje decentralizovanih zemalja (prosek za OECD članice je 21%), ali po drugom pokazatelju, broju zaposlenih na lokalnom nivou, Srbija spada u grupu izrazito centralizovanih zemalja sveta (16% državne administracije je zaposleno na lokalnom nivou, a 84% na centralnom nivou). Uvođenjem programske klasifikacije budžeta kao obaveznog dela odluke o budžetu za 2015. godinu, stvorili su se uslovi za povećanje transparentnosti rada lokalne samouprave u Srbiji, a samim tim i za povećanje njenih nadležnosti i njene samostalnosti. Za bolju i efikasniju lokalnu vlast direktan izbor gradonačelnika (predsednika opštine) čini se kao dobro rešenje. Ovaj model lokalne vlasti se uspešno primenjuje i u razvijenim zemljama sveta i u zemljama u regionu, a i Srbija ga je imala u periodu od 2002. do 2007. godine. Srbija spada u red relativno samostalnih lokalnih samouprava koje samostalno ubiraju oko 30% svojih prihoda (izvorni prihodi), dok ustupljeni prihodi čine još oko 50% njihovih budžeta. Kako bi se napravili dalji koraci u jačanju samostalnosti lokalne samouprave u Srbiji, neki prihodi bi mogli da iz kategorije ustupljenih pređu u kategoriju izvornih prihoda (porez na prenos apsolutnih prava i porez na nasleđe i poklon, kao i porez na dohodak građana), ili da iz kategorije prihoda centralne vlasti pređu u nadležnost lokalne samouprave (porez na dobit preduzeća). Efikasnost lokalne samouprave u procesu planiranja i izvršenja budžeta i investicija ima dosta prostora za unapređenje, a slična situacija je i sa zaduživanjem. ; The central hypothesis that the author in this paper tried to confirm is whether municipal bonds can be an instrument for local economic development. This issue is of great importance given the fact that the process of joining the Serbia to European Union, the local governments will have a lot of obligations under their jurisdiction, and the value of projects that local governments should finance (independently or in cooperation with donors, central level of government, the private sector .) on the path towards the European Union is estimated on 3 to 5 billion euros. The current approach to financing investment projects will certainly not be sufficient to meet the above mentioned requirements and the main theme of this paper is what local governments should do to qualitatively improve the process of financing investment projects in their jurisdiction. With around 15% of budget spending at the local level, Serbia is categorized as middle decentralized country (the average for OECD member states is 21%), but according to the second indicator, the number of employees at the local level, Serbia belongs to the group of highly centralized countries in the world (16% of the state administration is employed at the local level, and 84% at the central level). With the introduction of a program classification of the budget as a mandatory part of the Budget decision for 2015, conditions for increase of the transparency of local selfgovernment in Serbia were created, providing the conditions for increase of local selfgovernment authority and independence. For better and more effective local government, the direct election of the mayor (municipal president) seems like a good solution. This model of local government is successfully applied in developed countries and countries in the region, while Serbia had this set up from 2002 to 2007. Serbia is one of the countries with relatively autonomous local governments that independently collect about 30% of its revenues (original/own revenues), while shared revenues are about 50% of their budgets. In order to make further steps in the process of strengthening the autonomy of local selfgovernments in Serbia, some revenues could be transferred from the category of shared into the category of own revenues (tax on transfer of absolute rights and taxes on inheritance and gifts, as well as personal income tax), or from the category of central government revenues to the jurisdiction of local self-governments (corporate income tax).
Inter-municipal cooperation (IMC), as a form of decentralized implementation of public services and as a part of the local government system, is seen as a means to ensure balanced regional development, better quality of public services, as well as a way to adjust the needs of government organization to the needs of a society, with respect to its structural characteristics and needs. In this paper, the basic forms of inter-municipal cooperation, subjects of cooperation, ways in which the cooperation operates, areas in which the cooperation is achieved, nature of the jurisdiction, financing and management methods, affecting factors, and the specific advantages and disadvantages of this form of decentralized implementation of public services are specified, through the analysis of relevant international documents from this field, experiences and practices from different European countries, as well as normative frameworks and practices of inter-municipal cooperation in Serbia. Bearing in mind that the practice of inter-municipal cooperation has not sufficiently come to life in Serbia, and that there is a number of questions related to it and to the other aspects of decentralization, this research is intended to boost the intensive progress of inter-municipal cooperation in Serbia, as a means to improve the decentralization of public services, and also to overcome the problems local governments are facing. The author finds that, unlike alternative solutions, inter-municipal cooperation preserves local autonomy, strengthening the capacity at the local level and ensuring the implementation of territorial reforms that are conducted "from below", according to the needs of the citizens. Inter-municipal cooperation, regardless of its form, is a type of decentralized implementation of public services. Although it is suspected that the certain form of concentration is achieved through integrated forms of cooperation, these tasks are still performed within a level that is not central; the state does not take any additional role, which would reduce the degree of independence of the entities that are not central, i.e. reduce the decentralized character of these services, or which would strengthen the centralizing tendencies of the state or strengthen state control. In Europe, you can see many examples of very effective cooperation, which has proved to be a solution not just for many structural problems of local government, but also for the vertical government organization in general. IMC provided the solutions that alternatively required radical changes in the territorial organization. Also, IMC proved to be a mechanism that provided regional policy, development goals, public-private partnerships and territorial harmonization. The existing legislative framework of inter-municipal cooperation in Serbia mainly emphasizes voluntary cooperation of individual local governments, without a hint of a widespread or better controlled integration. Apart from the fact that the obligatory cooperation is only an exception, even some of the fundamental questions of its establishment and implementation are not regulated. The need for cooperation consists mainly in providing the regional services and equitable development, in overcoming the limitations, as well as in the more adequate use of local capacities. However, the regulatory framework does not provide a reliable basis for the establishment of high quality, durable and effective partnerships. Given the existence of asymmetric decentralization, one-level local governments, uneven capacities, as well as the development of decentralized units in Serbia, some of the solutions of inter-municipal cooperation can be considered a means of ensuring regional requirements in countries that are characterized by similar solutions, i.e. problems, without any change in the constitutional concept of decentralization. The main areas where the promotion of decentralized systems can be established are regional and spatial development planning, public utility services, tourism, civil and environment protection services, local governments and so on.
Political, economic, social and environmental changes that accompany the development of the modern world, encourage states to implement changes in the security field. One of these countries is the Netherlands, which reformed its system of public security by introducing safety regions. The safety regions represent a new form of organization in the field of emergency and disaster. They are not a new level of local government but rather a new form of public policy that involves all levels of the system of local self-government. Therefore, the mentioned regions have a direct impact on the establishment of a new form of organization of functioning of the local self-government, and their responsibilities in relation to emergency situations. This particularly applies to their powers regarding the fire brigades. The safety regions directly result in the reduction of municipal competencies and enlarge the jurisdiction of the region in preparations and actions in case of emergencies. However, it is the firefighting units that constitute the backbone of the preparation and response to emergencies. The main tasks of these units have not been changed by introducing safety regions, but there has been a shift in their management and directing their wider duties.