Robust local government and local service structures

Summary

The task of the working group on local government structures was to prepare a report on the appropriate structure of local government and local services for each area of the country, as referred to in the Government Programme. The report was required to include proposals regarding the criteria for local government reform and the way in which it would be implemented, and a map illustrating the proposed reform. 

The working group’s report examines the current and future challenges faced by Finland’s municipalities. The municipalities are analysed from a number of different perspectives by looking at service needs, municipal finances, the regional and urban structure, employment and essential transactions, provision of services, and special regional characteristics.

The working group’s proposals on local government reform are based on the need for a municipal structure that is robust and efficient and that can better safeguard the provision of basic public services and better match the scope and nature of people’s daily lives than at present. The working group’s proposals for local government restructuring are also aimed at strengthening municipal finances and the financial room for manoeuvre. For most parts of the country the justifications for the proposals are based particularly on demographic factors and municipal finance considerations. In the major urban centres the proposals are founded to a great extent on urban structure issues centred on the need to coordinate land use, housing and transport, as well as municipal finance considerations.

Based on its work, the working group concludes that the Government’s policy outlines for robust local government will necessitate major structural reform. The municipalities will need support in implementing this reform. In view of the state of municipal finances in particular, the execution of municipal mergers will necessitate the use of a more effective merger procedure. To ensure the reform measures are put into effect systematically, the working group proposes that as part of the reform support package for municipalities, the Government should, for all prospective new municipalities, compile a report on their municipal boundary divisions. The working group considers that while its proposals for local government reform constitute a basis for restructuring the provision of social welfare and health care services, a report on the structure of social welfare and health care service provision is also needed. 

The working group’s report is split into two parts. Part I describes previous reforms, the needs and objectives of reform, the parameters set by the Finnish Constitution, the perspectives from which the reform is examined, the means of implementation, and the reform support package. Part II presents the proposals regarding the structure of local government by region.

Language versions

• Elinvoimainen kunta- ja palvelurakenne
  08.02.2012
• En livskraftig kommun- och servicestruktur
  08.02.2012

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