DistantNews
Support us
Local Government Revenue Reform Needs Evaluation Now
🇵🇱 Poland /Elections & Politics

Local Government Revenue Reform Needs Evaluation Now

From Rzeczpospolita · () Polish

Translated from Polish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Ongoing story
  • Polish local-government organizations are seeking changes to the 2024 law governing local-government revenues, with revisions taking effect next year.
  • They say the Finance Ministry’s statement that it does not plan changes for 2027 abandons commitments to evaluate the law after one year.
  • Local officials warn that unresolved education and social-care financing pressures could reduce investment and threaten salary payments in some municipalities.

Polish local-government officials say the country cannot afford to postpone an evaluation of its revenue-sharing law, warning that delayed corrections could make future reforms more expensive.

Marek Wójcik, secretary of the local-government side of the Joint Commission of Government and Territorial Self-Government and deputy director of the Association of Polish Cities’ office, called for a rational, gradual adjustment of the rules. After 18 months under the law, he said, local authorities already know that some provisions need correction.

We want a rational change to the regulations. After a year and a half of the law on local-government revenues, we know that it requires corrections.

— Marek WójcikHe argued that the rules should be changed gradually rather than left for a more costly future overhaul.

The dispute intensified after a Finance Ministry representative told the commission last week that the ministry did not foresee changes to the local-government revenue law taking effect in 2027. Local-government organizations viewed the statement as a retreat from a commitment to review the law adopted in 2024 and introduce corrections after its first year. They say the evaluation requirement also appears in the law itself.

The fact that we do not deal with certain problems does not mean they will disappear.

— Marek WójcikHe warned against postponing an evaluation of the revenue system.

Officials describe the October 1, 2024 reform as important and necessary, but say it was prepared quickly and left some provisions requiring clarification or amendment. Grzegorz Cichy, mayor of Proszowice in southern Poland and head of the Union of Small Towns of Poland, said local governments had agreed to the reform conditionally. They expected talks not only on revenues, but also on education and social-care financing.

Cichy said municipalities face spending pressures they cannot control, including inflation, administratively increased minimum wages and a new rule counting business activity toward employment tenure. He warned that pressure on local-government wages is mounting and that some towns and cities fear they may run out of money to pay teachers. If the underlying problems remain unresolved, he said, local governments could invest much less next year than this year.

We are disappointed by what we heard. Two years ago, our agreement to the reform in its current form was conditional.

— Grzegorz CichyHe criticized the government’s position and called for negotiations that also address local-government spending.
About this summary

Originally published by Rzeczpospolita in Polish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

More Stories

From Our Blog