Local Government Debt Control Methods by Regional Chambers of Audit

The aim of this paper was to evaluate the system of control over local government debt exercised by the Regional Chambers of Audit (RCA) and to present the conclusions and expectations resulting from this assessment both generated by the RCA and applicable to the RCA within the scope of conducted debt audits. The method applied to assess legal regulations included analysis of legislative documents, i.e. primarily the Constitution, the Public Finance Act of 27 August 2009, Act of 7 October 1992 on Regional Chambers of Audit and the Regulation of the Minister of Finance of 28 December 2011 on the detailed manner of classifying debt titles classified as public debt. The analyses contained in this paper cover the period from 2014, when the Individual Debt Ratio defined in art. 243 of the Public Finance Act came into force, until 2018. The presented data and regulations confirm the correct functioning of the extensive control system in this respect. Every year, the number of negative assessments of local government debts decreases. However, it seems necessary to eliminate negative phenomena, such as: extending debt repayment period, use of unlimited types of debt titles and falsification of reporting data. The elimination of these negative phenomena may be achieved through amendments to the currently binding law regulating obtaining funding by local governments.