Problem zadłużenia gmin wiejskich na przykładzie województwa wielkopolskiego

Investing is one of determinants of local development, including the development of rural gminas. Local governments are mostly responsible for financing investments, especially in terms of their technical and social infrastructure. Poland’s accession to the European Union and the possibility for gminas to make use of the EU funds triggered their local development, especially in the period between 2007 and 2013. Many rural gminas became attractive places of residence and investment, but their debt increased dynamically. The aim of this article is to analyse the level of gmina indebtedness based on a case study of rural gminas of Wielkopolskie province in Poland which was carried out between 2007 and 2014. The research was based on the data published by the Ministry of Finance (Wskaźniki do oceny sytuacji finansowej jednostek samorządu terytorialnego) and by the Central Statistical Office (Local Data Bank). The first stage of the study included an analysis of a level and share of total indebtedness in total income, and the share of expenditure earmarked for debt servicing in the total income of rural gminas in Wielkopolskie province against other types of gminas in the period 2007–2014. For the purposes of the second stage of the research, TOPSIS method was used to carry out a synthetic assessment of the level of indebtedness of those entities and changes thereof in 2014 in relation to 2007. The study showed that in the period under consideration the general level of indebtedness of rural gminas increased, while the diversity between gminas in this scope decreased, although still remaining at a high level. The high level of indebtedness and its dramatic growth in 2014 in relation to 2007 mainly related to those rural gminas in the Wielkopolskie province which are typically agricultural and feature a low level of financial self-sufficiency.