New Proposal of the Law on Local and Regional Self- Government in the Republic of Croatia

Regionalna i lokalna samouprava predstavljaju životno okružje koje treba osigurati sve službe i poslove koji se smatraju bitnima kako bi se na prostorima jedinica omogućio opstanak stanovništvu. Lokalna se i regionalna samouprava sve više predstavlja kao ekonomski i upravljački problem, a ne kao civilizacijska stečevina i vrijednost. Novim se izmjenama Zakona lokalnoj i regionalnoj samoupravi ostavlja sve manje i manje izvora financiranja, a očekivanja su javnosti da ih samouprava upotrijebi ponajprije za poticanje ekonomskog razvoja kao i za davanja raznih potpora u vidu financijskih pomoći. Najveći problem današnjice predstavlja neravnomjerna razvijenost lokalne i regionalne samouprave, nerijetko je da gradovi i županije koji su površinom najveći imaju najmanji broj stanovnika što je konkretno slučaj Ličko-senjske županije i grada Gospića. Nadalje za zaključiti je kako manji broj stanovnika ujedno znači i manje javnih prihoda s kojima raspolaže samoupravna jedinica kao i problematika koja se veže uz povjerene poslove, čije obavljanje dovodi jedinicu u financijske poteškoće obzirom na količinu prihoda. Svrha Novog Zakona i izmjena postojećeg Zakona o lokalnoj i područnoj samoupravi sasim je logično, nastoje se uvesti određene promjene koje bi značile značajne uštede za jedinice lokalne i područne samouprave te se potpomoglo njihovom razvitku, a o čijim učincima rad govori.Regional and local self-government represent a living environment that should provide all services and jobs that are considered essential in order to enable the survival of the population in the areas of the units. Local and regional self-government is increasingly presented as an economic and managerial problem, rather than as a civilizational asset and value. With the new amendments to the Act, the local and regional self-governments are left with fewer and fewer sources of financing, and the public's expectation is that the selfgovernment should use them primarily to stimulate economic development as well as to provide various supports in the form of financial assistance. The biggest problem today is the uneven development of local and regional self-government, it is not uncommon for cities and counties with the largest surface area to have the smallest number of inhabitants, which is specifically the case of Lika-Senj County and the town of Gospić. Following on from the above fact, it is quite logical that a smaller number of inhabitants means a smaller amount of public revenue at the disposal of the local and regional self-government unit, but in addition to this, the problem is also the entrusted tasks that the unit must perform according to its competence, and the performance of which brings the unit into financial difficulties regarding the amount of income. The proposal and amendments to the Law on Local and Regional Self-Government seek to introduce certain changes that would mean significant savings for local and regional self-government units and help their development, the effects of which are discussed in the paper