Citizens’ Satisfaction with Tariffs and Methods of Payment for Services Provided by Local Public Authorities. Empirical Evidence in Romania

AbstractIn the context of a sharp decrease in the citizens’ standard of living, and of the increase in unemployment and the need to upgrade local infrastructure, public authorities throughout the country face some major challenges. On the one hand, they have to ensure the cash flow needed to support current and new investments and, on the other hand, manage properly the local tax and duty receipts. As the international visibility of localities cannot be increased unless thoughtful and well-funded investment plans are implemented to remediate local infrastructure, local public authorities must see that citizens are still satisfied with the level of taxation and the public services provided. Local public authorities must prove fully responsible with the public money and grant low-income people the possibility to pay taxes by installments. Additionally, they must innovate, granting citizens various methods of payment of taxes and duties due: at the cash desk, through bank transfer or by credit card. Within the research conducted among local public authorities in Transylvania, the authors attempt to highlight to what degree these objectives are implemented in localities studied by decision-makers, as well as citizens’ degree of satisfaction with these objectives