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| Author(s) | |
|---|---|
| Publication date | 18 October 2011 |
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| Price | € |
| Number of pages | |
| ISBN/ISSN/other | 978 90 377 0585 0 |
| Series | Publication |
| Number | 33 |
Original title: Maten voor gemeenten
Local authorities in the Netherlands are today
playing an ever more prominent role in the delivery of services to
the public, with central government devolving responsibility for
more and more tasks to municipal level. In 2009, Dutch local
authorities together spent a total of € 45 billion on the
delivery of public services. What do citizens receive for this
money?
This publication analyses local authority expenditure and output
for the period 2004-2009. It emerges that local authority spending
rose over that period by 1.9% per annum, whereas the output of
services remained virtually unchanged. In other words, local
authorities had to spend more and more money in order to provide
citizens with the same services. What is the background to this
trend? Our study suggests that citizens feel that the quality of
the services they receive has generally improved.
This edition of Measurements for municipalities (Maten voor gemeenten) devotes special attention to youth care services, which will be transferred entirely to local authorities from 2014. Spending on these services has grown substantially, and more young people also make use of them. Given the limited availability of resources, local authorities face a challenge in keeping youth care spending under control.
Evert Pommer is head of the Public Services Sector research group at SCP. Ingrid Ooms, Saskia Jansen, Jedid-Jah Jonker, Hetty van Kempen and Klarita Sadiraj are researchers within this research group.