Municipalities’ operation costs show 3% slide

The external operating expenses of municipalities in Mainland Finland were 3.0 per cent lower in January to June 2017 than that in the corresponding period of 2016, according to Statistics Finland.

In that period, the operating revenue declined by 7.0 per cent from one year earlier. Municipalities received a total of EUR 11.3 billion in tax revenue and EUR 4.4 billion in central government transfers to local government.

The external operating expenses of joint municipal authorities grew by 9.2 per cent and operating revenue by 7.4 per cent.

These figures are based on Statistics Finland’s statistics on quarterly local government finances, for which data were collected from 80 municipalities and from 69 joint municipal authorities in Mainland Finland.

In the first half of 2017, the operating expenses of the municipalities in Mainland Finland without internal items totalled EUR 17.8 billion posting a 3.0 per cent decrease from the first half of 2016. External operating revenue declined by 7.0 per cent to EUR 3.5 billion.

Municipalities’ combined tax funding grew by 0.8 per cent from the previous year standing at EUR 15.8 billion in January to June 2017. Tax funding consists of municipalities’ own tax revenue, which grew by 2.0 per cent, and central government’s transfers to local government, which decreased by 2.2 per cent. Tax funding per capita was EUR 2,883. The annual contribution margin grew by 28.2 per cent standing at EUR 1.9 billion.

In January to June 2017, the investment expenses of municipalities in Mainland Finland amounted to EUR 1.1 billion, which was 3.4 per cent lower than in January to June 2016. At the end of June, the loan stock stood at EUR 15.7 billion, growing by 0.3 per cent from the end of the previous quarter. Municipalities’ loan stock per capita was EUR 2,867.

The external operating expenses of joint municipal authorities in Mainland Finland totalled EUR 6.7 billion and external operating revenue EUR 7.2 billion in the first two quarters of 2017. Compared with the corresponding period of the previous year, operating expenses grew by 9.2 per cent and operating revenue by 7.4 per cent. The annual contribution margin went down by 11.2 per cent from last year and was EUR 0.5 billion.

Joint municipal authorities’ investment expenses amounted to EUR 0.4 billion in January to June. Compared with January to June 2016, investment expenses grew by 20.2 per cent. At the end of the second quarter, joint municipal authorities’ loan stock stood at EUR 3.2 billion, which was 2.5 per cent more than at the end of the previous quarter.