Finnish Local Government Barometer 2005: Municipal Managers

The survey focused on the project to restructure local government and local government services in Finland. Municipal managers were asked a number of questions relating to the restructuring project and its potential consequences. Opinions on the best option for a new local government model were charted. One question explored whether the present municipality structure, merged municipalities or regional areas would be the best basis for providing particular services (child day care, education, care of the elderly, primary health care, library services etc.), and who should provide these services (the municipality itself or private service providers). Municipal managers were asked for which services the citizens themselves should carry a larger financial or operational responsibility, and which services should be the organized by the central government instead of local government. They were also asked to what extent they agreed with a number of statements relating to municipalities (e.g. everyone who wants can influence decisions in his/her municipality of residence, my municipality should be merged with the neighbouring municipality or municipalities, it is better to raise municipal taxes than cut services). Views were probed on whether the municipal services had improved, got worse or stayed the same over the past two years, and what strategies would be acceptable for improving the finances of the municipality. Finally, the respondents were asked how many municipalities there should be in Finland. Background variables included the region in which the municipality was located, number of inhabitants, R’s gender and political party identification.