No abstract

The overall average level of budget transparency in Croatian counties, cities and municipalities, measured by the number of budget documents published on their respective official websites, stands at 3.52 (out of a possible 5). The number of budget documents published has grown year by year in all types of local government units, averaging 4.9 in counties, 4 in cities and 3.3 in municipalities in this research cycle. For the first time, there are no cities without at least one budget document published, or municipalities without an official website. However, despite the improvements in average results achieved, differences among individual local units, notably municipalities, are still huge. A large number of cities and the bulk of municipalities will have to intensify their efforts to comply with their legal obligations and recommendations of the Ministry of Finance in this respect. While the publishing of budget documents does not in itself guarantee absolute transparency, it should still be prescribed and encouraged, because it is the first step towards achieving higher transparency levels necessary for citizens' participation in the budget process. More detailed results for all counties, cities and municipalities are given later in the text and are available on an interactive map and in an Excel table format. 1 This research was funded by the Croatian Science Foundation (CSC) under the project IP-2014-09-3008. CSC also funded the work of doctoral student Branko Stanić. Opinions, findings, conclusions and recommendations are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of CSC. The authors gratefully acknowledge Marija Višić for her assitance in data collection. 2 The results for previous cycles were published in the articles by Ott, Bronić and Petrušić (2013, 2014 and 2015), as well as by Ott, Bronić, Petrušić and Stanić (2016 and 2017). 3 Irrespective of the formal distinction among the units of local and regional self-government, for the purposes of this article, the term 'local government units' covers all 20 counties, 128 cities and 428 municipalities.

Budget transparency implies having an insight into complete, accurate, timely and understandable budget information. Publishing budgets in a transparent manner allows citizens to contribute to the more efficient collection of public funds and supply of public goods and services, to increase accountability of the Government and local government authorities and thus to reduce opportunities for corruption.For the purposes of this research, budget transparency is measured by the number of key budget documents published on the official websites of Croatian local government units 3 which, in this research cycle, include the following:

Budget transparency enables citizens to obtain complete, accurate, timely and understandable budget information. It allows them to get informed and contribute to the more efficient collection of public funds and supply of public goods and services, thus increasing accountability of the Government and local government authorities 3 and reducing opportunities for corruption.

Cilj je ovoga rada analizirati otvorenost, odnosno transparentnost proračuna hrvatskih lokalnih jedinica i utvrditi je li u posljednjih godinu dana došlo do pozitivnih pomaka. 1Otvorenost proračuna podrazumijeva mogućnost građana da dobiju potpune, bitne, točne, pravovremene i razumljive informacije o proračunu.2 Za potrebe ovoga istraživanja, otvorenost proračuna mjerimo brojem objavljenih ključnih proračunskih dokumenata lokalnih jedinica, a razina otvorenosti proračuna može se kretati u rasponu od 0 do 7. Otvorenost proračuna omogućuje građanima da se informiraju i utječu na odluke o prikupljanju i trošenju javnoga novca. Na taj se način može ostvariti efikasnije prikupljanje sredstava i ponuda javnih dobara i usluga, uz povećanje odgovornosti u javnom sektoru i smanjenje mogućnosti za političku korupciju. U Hrvatskoj već postoje čimbenici koji se smatraju povoljnima za otvaranje proračuna -fiskalna i ekonomska kriza koja zahtijeva veću fiskalnu disciplinu, korupcijski skandali koji otvaraju politički prostor za uvođenje reformi koje će poboljšati pristup javnosti proračunskim informacijama te velika zaduženost koja sili na povećanje efikasnosti prikupljanja i trošenja proračunskih sredstava. Valja se 1 U ovome tekstu izraz "lokalne jedinice" podrazumijeva sve županije i gradove te uzorak od sto općina.2 Više u Bronić, Ott i Urban (2012).