The Government of the Republic of Croatia initiated the comprehensive public administration reform process aimed at preparing the country to access the European Union. One of the key aspects of the administration reform process in Croatia is the reform of the civil service system on the central, county and local level. The development of a professional and competitive civil service system requires a balanced pay and benefit system (monetary incentives), career perspectives that are based on merit and performance as much as on a strong and well integrated professional development system. Pay and benefit systems constitute a key element of EU assessment, with a focus on merit based rewards and the principle of equal pay for equal work on the central, county and local government units’ level. The first assessment of the local and regional self-government units’ salary policy was implemented by the World Bank project in the first half of 2006. The data, common for all local self-government units, have been analysed with the detail analysis of 13 (out of 33) cities which accept transfers and 12 (out of 20) counties. Except in the summary data of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Croatia, the majority of Croatian municipalities were not included in the analysis. These results of the analysis of salaries in local and regional self-government units have shown that there is great disproportion in practice and that there is no elaborated system of salaries and the control of spending financial resources collected at local level. This document presents the analyses of salaries in local and regional self-government units and other costs related to benefits (compensations, bonuses, privileges, social privileges) in the Republic of Croatia, as well as the comparative analysis with the level of salaries in state administration bodies, private sector and relevant EU countries described in the previously developed documents. This research will, together with other analysis conducted in the scope of this project, serve as the basis for the development of the proposal of a systematic approach to pay and benefit system reform at the level of local and regional self-government units (based on efficiency evaluation system), which should be compatible with the payment system in EU member states, with the draft salaries in local and regional self-government in the Republic of Croatia, and with the development of the proposal for the unique system of classification of work posts in local and regional self-government units.

Ekonomija,Pravo

istraživanje je financirano sredstvima Svjetske banke. Dokument je preveden na hrvatski jezik i prezentiran na konferenciji o lokalnoj i područnoj samoupravi 28.4.2008. te služi kao podloga za donošenje politike plaća na razini JLPS