Municipalities’ operating costs on the rise

The external operating expenses of municipalities in mainland Finland went up by 2.1 per cent in January to September 2018 from the corresponding period of one year earlier, according to the Statistics Finland.

External operating revenue declined by 1.8 per cent. Municipalities received EUR 18.0 billion in tax revenue and EUR 6.6 billion in central government transfers to local government.

Joint municipal authorities’ external operating expenses grew by 6.6 per cent and operating revenue by 5.0 per cent.

These data appear from the Statistics Finland’s statistics on quarterly local government finances, for which data were collected from 80 municipalities and from 70 joint municipal authorities in mainland Finland.

The external operating expenses of municipalities in mainland Finland amounted to EUR 27.0 billion in the first three quarters of 2018. Compared to the corresponding period of the previous year, operating expenses were 2.1 per cent higher. External operating revenue, in turn, decreased 1.8 per cent to EUR 5.0 billion.

Municipalities’ tax revenue was 3.1 per cent higher in January to September 2018 than one year earlier.

Central government transfers to local government decreased by 0.2 per cent. Municipalities received a total of EUR 18.0 billion in tax revenue and EUR 6.6 billion in central government transfers to local government. Tax funding, which is formed of these two items, amounted to EUR 4,488 per inhabitant, on average, in mainland Finland municipalities. The annual contribution margin weakened 6.3 per cent from the previous year to EUR 3.1 billion.