The annual expenditure of local self-governments exceeds 250 million Euros.
Having in mind the annual amount of local self-government expenditure in Montenegro, adequate oversight of planning, execution and audit of local budgets is indisputably significant.
In order to provide an overview of the existing mechanisms for budgetary oversight at the local level, this analysis will offer an overview of both the legal framework and the practice of planning, execution and audit of local budgets in four selected Montenegrin municipalities: Nikšić, Danilovgrad, Podgorica and Herceg Novi.
The annual budget execution statements of Nikšić, Danilovgrad and Herceg Novi municipalities were audited by the State Audit Institution (SAI). This was the reason for the selection of these cases for this research, as it will help us to determine how SAI reports help to improve budgetary oversight.
The capital City Podgorica has been selected in light of several issues: the amount of budgetary resources, the amount of resources allocated for capital investment, and the numerous debates reported by the media in relation to Podgorica’s budget.
