Local government in Europe today.

• Author: Hahn, Kurt

This article examines certain areas of local government provision of services and municipal administration in Germany, England, Denmark, and Ireland. The observations are based on the author's research trip to these countries. Local government in Europe consumes a far greater proportion of total government tax receipts than does local government in the United States. In Europe, there are more local employees per capita and a greater degree of decentralization. Local government elections are often partisan; however, there is a tendency to geographically vote for the local representative versus the party. Local services offer many different approaches, some quite innovative and efficient, but others quite fragmented and marginal. There is much that local governments in the United States can learn from their European counterparts.

Innovations in Governance

The borough of Walsall, England (a combined city and county government) has experimented with Neighborhood Governance, establishing neighborhood committees with 150 to 300 electors and involving them with budget prioritization and policy making. In Denmark, an alternative approach has been taken with the creation of not-for-profit corporations to handle functional services, e.g., senior services or continuation high schools, governed by fixed representatives of diverse groups including business, labor, neighborhoods, users, and local or regional governments. In Germany, in which 80 percent of the people and jobs are situated in small towns, many with populations of 5,000 or less, groups of small towns have joined together or joined a medium-sized town for governance. In Ireland, local governments have been largely consolidated at the county level.

In Ireland, Denmark, England, and Germany, public safety services are regional or county or borough functions, each with significant technical support from the national government or, in Germany, the state government. Such technical support ranges from toxic spill response to SWAT teams. Comparative public safety spending and staffing is significantly less than in the United States.

Land-use planning and economic development is dramatically different by country. In Ireland, it is at the county level. In England, it is local and local jurisdictions may include agricultural lands as well as urbanized areas. In Denmark, counties control rural areas with cities controlling urban areas. In Germany, city or merged city governments control both urban and...