Finnish Local Government Barometer 1994: Municipal Managers, Chairmen of Municipal Executive Boards

The survey studied the opinions of municipal leaders (municipal managers and chairpersons of municipal executive boards) on how to improve municipal finances. The respondents evaluated the acceptability of increasing local taxes, privatising municipal services, reducing governmental control, laying off/reducing municipal staff, etc. The respondents were asked to what extent they agreed with a number of statements relating to municipal finances, administration, services, taxation and democracy, the number and size of municipalities, and relations between the government and municipalities. One theme covered the preferred measures to cut municipal expenditure: should municipalities increase local taxes, cut services, or make citizens pay for the services. The respondents were asked which municipal services could be cut. Changes in municipal services over the past two years were charted. The respondents were also asked which services presently provided by municipalities could be left to other bodies (i.e. governmental or non-governmental organisations, private enterprises, or citizens themselves). The survey carried a set of attitudinal questions about the consolidation of municipalities. The respondents rated the usefulness of certain national and regional bodies (e.g. various ministries, universities, Statistics Finland, The National Land Survey) to their municipality. Background variables included the respondent's sex, status in municipal administration, municipality size, and province.

本调研旨在探讨市政领导者（市政管理者及市政执行委员会主席）对于如何优化市政财政的看法。受访者对提高地方税率、市政服务私有化、减少政府控制、裁员/减少市政工作人员等举措的可行性进行了评估。调研还要求受访者就与市政财政、行政管理、服务、税收和民主相关的若干陈述表达其认同程度，包括市政的数量与规模、政府与市政之间的关系等。调研涵盖了一个主题，即削减市政支出的首选措施：市政是否应提高地方税率、削减服务，还是让市民为服务付费。受访者被询问哪些市政服务可以被削减。调研还描绘了过去两年市政服务的变迁。受访者还被询问哪些目前由市政提供的公共服务可以交给其他机构（即政府或非政府组织、私营企业，或市民自身）。调研还包含了一系列关于市政合并的态度性问题。受访者对某些国家及地区机构（例如各部委、大学、芬兰统计局、国家土地测量局）对其市政的有用性进行了评价。背景变量包括受访者的性别、在市政管理中的地位、市政规模以及所在省份。