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The article deals with areas of decision-making in local governments in the Czech Republic. It is specifically focused on proposing the agenda and decision-making mechanism. It asks the question of who comes up with an investment impulse, whether work meetings about investments are held before council meetings, and whether the size of the municipality is a determinant for an own decision-making mechanism. It turns out that the main actors in deciding on the key issues of municipalities are mayors. Their role is particularly important in smaller municipalities, while in big cities the range of actors involved in decision-making mechanisms is broader. Despite the fact that the management system of the local governments of Czech municipalities tends to be understood as collective, this may in practice not necessarily apply to small municipalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the financial impact of emerald ash borer (EAB, Agrilus planipennis Farimaire; Coleoptera: Buprestide) on municipal forestry budgets. Three distinct phases were evident: an initial time period of 0–4 years (little budget change), year 5–8 time period (rapid budget increase), and years 9–12 (rapid budget decrease) after EAB was confirmed in a state. The 5–8 year time period had increased spending as detected through the total forestry budget (p = 0.011), total municipal forestry budget (percent forestry budget) as a percentage of the total municipal budget (p < 0.001), and per capita spending (p < 0.001). A $1.58 per capita increase occurred in annual municipal forestry budgets in states in which EAB was confirmed (EAB+) compared to states without a confirmed EAB case (EAB−). This has a $280.5 (±79.9) million annual impact on municipal budgets. The percent forestry budget increased as the time since EAB was confirmed in a state increased. A mean 0.33% (0.03 SE, n = 82) percent forestry budget occurred during the initial 0–4 years after confirmation of EAB. This exponentially increased from 0.47% (0.05 SE, n = 43) in year 5 to 1.17% (0.12 SE, n = 38) at the peak in year 8, and rapidly declined back to 0.47% (0.05 SE, n = 51) in years 10–12 which was a level slightly higher than initial conditions. Federal, state, and local urban forestry managers can use these results to financially plan for the impacts of EAB on municipal forestry budgets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to outline an impact of the economic crisis on municipal budgets in the Czech Republic and to evaluate how selected municipalities with different level of delegated state administration dealt with the economic slump from the financial perspective. The results of our research so far suggest that Czech municipal budgets have been affected by the economic crisis more than regional budgets, but less than the central budget. The reason is that the budgets contain different proportion of cyclically sensitive items. This conclusion applies mainly to the financial situation of municipalities in 2009, when municipalities were able to draw on financial reserves they accumulated in the past few years. Due to these reasons, among other things, the crisis has affected the municipal budgets not so seriously; the municipalities in general did not have much trouble coping with the situation. The relatively good constitution of the municipal budgets is also evident in three examples of municipalities the South Moravian Region that are described and briefly compared in the final part of the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]