Financiële controle in het gemeenterecht. Een juridisch onderzoek naar de dualisering van de financiële functie.

PhD ceremony: Mr. W. van der Woude, 14.30 uur, Aula Academiegebouw, Broerstraat 5, Groningen

Dissertation: Financiële controle in het gemeenterecht. Een juridisch onderzoek naar de dualisering van de financiële functie.

Promotor(s): prof. D.J. Elzinga, prof. A.H.M. Dölle

Faculty: Law

Van der Woude’s thesis deals with control of municipal finances in the Netherlands. The topic of financial control was subject to political debate when in 2002 a complete revision of the Municipalities Act – known as the dualization (dualisering) of local government – was brought about. To this end, a large part of Van der Woude’s research deals with the dualization of municipal government as such. In general, and in spite of what the government stated during the legislative procedures regarding the dualization, the position of the council has not improved. On some points one might even argue that the council’s powers over the municipal finances have diminished somewhat.

This is the case, for instance with regard to the layout of the municipal budget. The national government proposes a high level of aggregation for the budgets. However, this would diminish the council’s power to exercise control over the municipal executive’s policies. That being said, some of the restrictions of the council’s powers do not have to be rued. The determination of the legality of municipal expenses by the council itself, should be avoided as much as possible. These questions are of a too legal nature to be put in the hands of a political organ. An independent organ, such as the accountant, would be better qualified to answer such questions. In that light, it would be advisable to transfer all control over the accountants’ activities to the provincial level.