The ranking of local authorities of 2014. The Vilnius region goes down, the Salcininkai region goes up.

The municipality of Kłajpedy took first place in the ranking of municipalities. The regional authority of Kowieński region took first place among regional authorities. The Vilnius region local government fell down in the ranking and the Salcininkai region local government went up in the ranking. The ranking was published by Lithuanian Institute of Free Market.

Lithuanian ranking of local authorities takes into consideration economical freedom in a local government as well as effectiveness of management. Additionally, it considered the factors important to the citizens – municipal waste management, transport, education, health care, social care; the factors important to the investors – investments and development, taxes; managements – budget, property management, administration.

On the bases of the data from 2013, as many as 42 municipalities run into debt. In 2013, the debt increased to 118mln lit. Only in 18 municipalities, could we observe a decrease of the debt.

The data from the most recent ranking disclosed some positive tendencies as well. The municipalities resign of unused buildings and unnecessary businesses, e.g. funeral homes and hairdressing salons.

“It is a positive tendency, which shows that the municipalities start to understand that hairdressing and burials of their citizens are not their tasks” – said Laurynas Rekašius, the expert from the Institute.

In short:
Ranking of municipalities. Kłajpeda (81 point out of 100), Vilnius (75), Poniewież (63,6), Kowno (61,3), Olita (56,9), Połąga (38,4), Szawle (34,1).
Ranking of regional authorities. TOP 5: kowieński region(70,2), płungiańki region (68), kłajpedzki region (65,8), druskiennicki region (63,9), kiejdański region(63,6).

The municipality of Vilnius has got 44,3 points and it took 39th place on the list of 53 municipalities.
Worse than last year position is due to lower note for investments, property management and budget.

Only a part of unused buildings was enlisted for privatisation. There was an increase in the number of cars owned by the municipality. The increasing debt was evaluated negatively. Material investments decreased for 20%. Additionally, there was a decrease in the number of direct foreign investments as well as in the number of certificates for economical and construction activities. In the analysis of the municipality results, it is emphasised that the Vilnius region municipality was fined for creating special conditions for waste management service (on the bases of art. 4 from Act on competitive marketing).

The municipality was evaluated more positively in terms of waste management, social care and administration. Lower than national average price for heating and water influenced more effective waste management. The evaluation was further improved by municipality heating company, whose work did not bring any losses. Social care evaluation was influenced by following factors: decrease in unemployment rate, the number of people receiving social benefits as well as redress for heating. In the category of administration, the municipality was praised for in-time examination of most of the claims submitted by the citizens (98,8%).

The Salcininkai region has got 43 points and it took 45 place on the list of 53 municipalities.
What influenced better evaluation than the year before were positive notes for waste management, education and social care.

The municipality heating companies also got positive notes, as well as waste services and housing administration, which services have brought a lot of profit. Other factors taken into account were lower than national average price for heating. There was an increase in the effectiveness in using school buildings. There was also a decrease in unemployment rate and the number of people taking benefits.

What prevented the municipality from taking higher position in the ranking were lower note for health care, investments and taxes. There was a decrease in the number of foreign investments counted for one citizen as well as in the number of certificates for economical and construction activities. The category of taxes was evaluated negatively because of 4%max. tax on unused land.

The interactive map can be found here.