Municipality (Slovakia)

The municipalities ( Slovak obec , plural obce ) represent the lowest level of the regional authority in Slovakia and their tasks are comparable with municipalities in German-speaking countries. There are a total of 2891 municipalities on Slovak territory (as of December 31, 2015), including three military districts. The position as well as tasks are regulated by the Law on Municipal Code (Slovak: Zákon o obecnom zriadení ), 369/1990 Zb. regulated with later changes. As of December 31, 2019, the average population was 1,887.88 inhabitants per municipality with a total population of 5,457,873 inhabitants and the average area was 16.96 km².

A Slovak municipality is always formed by one or more cadastral municipalities (Slovak: Ez. Katastrálne územie , Mz. Katastrálne územia ) that cover the whole of Slovakia. A cadastral parish can never be divided between two parishes. In parallel, municipalities can be divided into districts (Slovak: Ez. Miestna časť , Mz. Miestne časti ) for simple municipalities or districts (Slovak: Ez. Mestská časť , Mz. Mestské časti ) for cities. With the exception of Bratislava and Košice (see below), these have no special administration.

Symbols

The communities have the right to use their own symbols. The symbols are the coat of arms , the flag , the seal and possibly a hymn . Legal or natural persons may only use these symbols with the consent of the municipality.

tasks

The main tasks of the Slovak municipalities consist of primary education, maintenance of municipal roads, building permit procedures, spatial planning and administration of municipal property. According to Law 369/1990 Zb. with later changes the following tasks of a municipality are:

Management of movable and immovable communal property
Compilation and approval of the municipal budget and the final invoice
Determination of municipal taxes and fees and their administration
Regulation of economic activity in the municipality, e.g. B. through the approval of corporate activities, whether legal or natural
Creation and maintenance of an efficient supervisory system
Construction and maintenance of municipal roads, paths and places, the local cemetery, cultural, sporting and other facilities as well as cultural sights and sites
Ensuring public services such as garbage collection, keeping public spaces clean, water supply, green maintenance and street lighting
Providing and maintaining healthy lifestyles for residents, as well as participating in environmental protection, health care, education, culture, art and sport
Participation in consumer protection, determination of opening times for shops and services and administration of the marketplace
Approval of the spatial planning documentation of the settlement areas and zones as well as provision of a concept for further residential development of the municipality
Execution of own investment activities for the purpose of satisfying the needs of residents and further development
Establishment, creation, dissolution and control of own household and subsidy businesses as well as other legal persons
Organization of local referendums on important community issues
Establishing public order and prohibiting or restricting activities
Preservation of cultural monuments according to the extent given in special ordinances
Fulfill its role in social assistance to the extent given in special ordinances
Issuance of certificates and documents, as well as certification of signatures on documents
Management of the community chronicle in the state language as well as in the language of the national minority

For the purpose of better efficiency in the execution of the above-mentioned tasks, but especially in matters such as social aid, the environment (garbage collection and processing, wastewater treatment), local traffic, education and tourism, municipalities can combine in municipal associations.

language

In addition to Slovak , a second official language can be used in areas inhabited by national minorities. This applies in municipalities in which national minorities make up at least 15% (previously 20%) of the total population in two consecutive censuses. The list of bilingual municipalities and their names in minority languages are kept in government regulations.

politics

The municipal administration consists of the mayor (Slovak: starosta ) for simple municipalities, city districts and mayor (Slovak: primátor ) for cities and the municipal council (Slovak: obecné zastupiteľstvo ). Both are elected jointly in all-Slovak local elections for four years each with separate ballot papers for mayors and municipal councils. In Bratislava and Košice, in addition to the city mayors and deputies, the respective district mayors and deputies are also elected. The last election took place on November 10, 2018.

The number of municipal representatives depends on the number of inhabitants and is as follows:

Pop.	Deputy	Pop.	Deputy
<40	3	5,001-10,000	11-13
40-500	3-5	10,001-20,000	13-19
501-1,000	5-7	20,001-50,000	15-25
1,001-3,000	7-9	50,001-100,000	19-31
3,001-5,000	9-11	> 100,000	23-41

The mayor may be represented by a deputy mayor (Slovak: zástupca starostu ), who is elected either by the mayor or by the municipal council. A deputy can only be elected from among the members of the parliament. For municipalities with more than 20,000 inhabitants, two deputies can be appointed and their ranking can be determined.

The municipal council meets as required, but at least once every three months. It can only meet if more than half of all MPs are present. A simple majority of the MPs present is required to approve a resolution, and a three-fifths majority of MPs is required for ordinances.

The municipal council can also set up local councils (Slovak: obecná rada ). A maximum of one third of all MPs may be employed in a municipal council. He is the executive and control body of the municipal council and auxiliary body of the mayor.

The municipal office (Slovak: obecný úrad ) performs organizational and administrative functions and is the municipality's acceptance and dispatch point. The office is headed by the mayor, in larger municipalities by a municipal office head (Slovak: prednosta obecného úradu ).

Remuneration of the community politicians

The mayor's salary is calculated from a factor that depends on the number of inhabitants. The coefficient is a multiple of the average monthly wage in the Slovak economy and ranges from 1.49 for municipalities with fewer than 500 inhabitants to 3.58 for those with more than 100,000 inhabitants. The municipal council can, however, increase this "basic wage" by up to 70%.

Wages of members of parliament are set by the municipalities themselves and there is no obligation to publish them.

At sight

Supervision is carried out by the main controller (Slovak: hlavný kontrolór ), who is legally considered an employee of the municipality. The main tasks include supervision of the household, communal property, income and expenditure as well as control of petition and complaint handling, compliance with communal ordinances and internal regulations.

Cities

The municipalities include a total of 141 cities (Slovak: mesto , Mz. Mestá , as of January 1, 2020), which, from a legal point of view, largely fulfill the same tasks as simple municipalities. In order to become a city, the municipality should have at least 5000 inhabitants, have good transport connections and be a center for the area (whether administrative, economic or a health resort) and partially have urban development. Under certain circumstances, the 5,000 population criterion can be omitted if the other functions can be clearly demonstrated. However, there are municipalities that are not cities despite having sufficient size and infrastructure, and conversely there are cities that have fewer than 5000 inhabitants. The National Council of the Slovak Republic can declare a municipality to be a city on January 1st.

Special status

The cities of Bratislava and Košice have a special status, each of which is treated by a special law. In addition to the city level with a city council and a lord mayor, both parts of the city have local councils and mayors. There are currently 17 districts in Bratislava and 22 in Košice. The above tasks are divided between the city and districts.

The number of city representatives is independent of Act 369/1990 Zb. regulated. In Bratislava the city council consists of 45 MPs (until 2010: 80 MPs), divided as proportionally as possible into parts of the city, each part of the city has the right to one MP. In Košice the city council consists of 41 members (up to 2012: 50 members).

statistics

Kraj	municipalities in total	Cities	Ø inhabitants / municipality	Ø area / municipality
Bratislavský kraj	73	7th	9172.49	28.12
Trnavský kraj	251	17th	2250.67	16.52
Trenčiansky kraj	276	18th	2118	16.31
Nitriansky kraj	354	15th	1904.82	17.92
Žilinský kraj	315	19th	2195.27	21.61
Banskobystrický kraj	516	24	1250.53	13.2
Prešovský kraj	666	23	1240.61	13.47
Košický kraj	440	17th	1821.5	15.35
total	2891	140	1887.88	16.96

Individual evidence

Web links

Current version of Law 369/1990 Zb. (Slovak)

[1] Zákon č. 184/1999 z. o používaní jazykov národnostných menšín (PDF; 2.1 MB)

[2] Nariadenie vlády Slovenskej republiky č. 534/2011 Z. z. - nový platný a účinný zoznam označení obcí v jazykoch národnostných menšín (PDF; 84 kB)

[3] Zákon zo 17. mája 2011, ktorým sa mení a dopĺňa zákon Národnej rady Slovenskej republiky č. 253/1994 z. o právnom postavení a platových pomeroch starostov obcí a primátorov miest v znení neskorších predpisov (PDF; 36 kB)

[4] 377/1990 Zb. - Zákon o hlavnom meste Slovenskej republiky Bratislava

[5] 401/1990 Zb. - Zákon o meste Košice