1.4 Fundamental principles of the political and the administrative system

The central state
The central state administration comprises officials in the role as secretaries in the Parliament and in the Government. Additionally the external state officials are employed in directorates and inspectorates.

The administration of the Parliament is organized in one constitutional office under the secretary general and in four separate departments: the General Service Department, the Administrative Affairs Department, the Information and Documentation Department and the International Department. In the Government the officials are divided between the actual Ministries and their preparation of matters for the Government that takes place under the formal leadership of the respective ministers.

Ministerial officials will only to some extents cover the Government's need for professional expertise. Directorates of different kinds are therefore an inseparable part of the central state administration. In addition to responsibilities concerning competence and advisory the directorates are also mandated with authority related to monitoring, control, regulation, licensing and, within some particular fields, to the allocation of resources. There is no directorate responsible for planning and building. To the degree central state authorities will need external competence within these fields, they have to ask universities, applied research institutes or consultancies for support. In matters of authority they have to rely either on the decentralized state authority, the County Governor, for monitoring, control and to some extents licensing, eventually on the municipalities for other executive duties and regulations.

The inspectorates are in main mandated with authority to monitor and control the rule of public laws and standards. Due to their role as inspectorates, they have an advisory role towards the ministries. As for the directorates their advice is not political binding for the minister whose final decision will be based on political discretion. Directorates and inspectorates are ruled according to particular regulations, which decide their mandates, organization and order of decision. Their budgets are decided in the Parliament as a part of the Fiscal Budget and the respective ministries will have the authority for giving more detailed recommendation for the allocating and spending.

The decentralized (regional) state
Except for the courts, the decentralized state is divided between two kinds of territorial or regional units, the State County and a partition that might be named Regionalized state sectors. The latter consist of several sectors under the rule of different ministries, each representing a decentralized state authority but without any unifying territorial jurisdiction. Norway consists of 18 State Counties; each under the rule of a County Governor who represents the authority of the State within the county to the degree no other public authority will be responsible. The position as County Governor is based on personal application and appointment by the Government (in the King in Government Council Meeting). There is no time limit of the working period. The County Governor, responsible for regional activities overlapping the authority of several ministries, is under rule of the Government. This authority represents the central state at regional level in situations where directorates, inspectorates and, in certain aspects, state sectoral authorities are involved. Beside the authority of legal control in different matters, the County Governor has the mandate to monitor and coordinate regional and local activities towards national policies relating to pollution and natural resources, regional and local planning. That applies for state, county municipal and municipal activities. Moreover, the County Governor monitors other municipal activities of which the control of municipal fiscal budgeting and accounting is of particular importance.

It follows from these mandates that the County Governor is in a key position for coordinating between state planning policies and municipal planning. Accordingly, the County Governor should support the County Municipality in organizing cooperation with state sectoral authorities in county planning processes. Furthermore, disputes resolution towards planning on local level is an important duty, either in terms of mediating or handling of complaints. Lastly, the County Governor has also a certain advisory role, mainly in legal planning matters towards the State sectors, the County Municipality and Municipality.

The Regionalized state sectors are mandated for their activities within jurisdictions covering several state counties, like the Public Health Regions, whose main responsibility is the running of public hospitals, and the Road Authority Regions responsible for planning and management of state roads. These units are organized as public corporations with a separate board and director general. Besides such territorial constructs, some of the directorates and inspectorates as other State organized activities operate decentralized under regional and even local offices. Their territorial divisions are usually different from the previous ones, although their territorial delineation normally will follow state county borders.

The municipalities
The municipal system is divided into two administrative-political levels. The Primary Municipality, usually named the Municipality, is the local, i.e. lowest public administrative tire. All together there are 431 municipalities whose territories cover the Norwegian main land with costal islands in continuity. On an average the Norwegian municipality hosts 10 800 inhabitants, cf. Table 1.

 

Table 1. Population in Norwegian municipalities by range.
 

Characteristics

Population range

Total

< 2 500

2 500-

9 999

10 000-19 999

20 000-49 999

50 000-100 000

100 000<

Population

200 106

1 022 885

812 988

963 603

480 370

1 160 267

4 640 219

Number of municipalities

131

197

57

33

8

5

431

Source: SSB, 2006.

The County Municipality represents the regional municipal tire, averagely populated by 244 200 inhabitants, cf. Table 2. Totally there are 19 county municipalities whose territories are in congruence with the 19 election constituencies. 17 county municipalities are identical with 17 out of the total 18 state counties. Two county municipalities, comprising the capital of Oslo and the main surrounding metropolitan area Akershus respectively, constitute one state county.

 

Table 2. Population in Norwegian county municipalities by range.
 

Characteristics

Population range

Total

<100 000

100 000-

199 999

200 000-

400 000

400 000<

Population

72 937

1 193 185

1 881 950

1 492 147

4 640 219

Number of county municipalities

1

8

7

3

19

Source: SSB, 2006.

Municipal elections, both for the local municipalities and the county municipalities, take place every forth year. In Norway there will then be an election every second year, shifting between municipal elections and national state elections for the Parliament. In the municipal units, whether Municipality or County Municipality, the Municipal or County Council correspondingly represent the highest political authority.

In Finnmark, the County Council is given a special mandate concerning the customary rights and interests of the Saami population. This county is the core area for traditional Saami activities related to the use of land and water and the most of the land area is in state ownership. In this regard the county council will have to strike a balance between the interests of the Saami population and other interests, and at the same time safeguard the interests of this population in relation to their customary rights for the utilization of natural resources.

It is up to the municipalities themselves to decide whether the government should be organized in an aldermen's system or a parliamentary system. Under an aldermen's system the Mayor is the coordinating leader of the Council and the Body of Aldermen as well. In the latter system the Executive Council, as in parallel to the State Government, consists of councilors (ministers) who are appointed leaders of the different municipal sectors under the coordinating leadership of a Municipal Executive Councilor.

During the latest years the parliamentary system has gained ground in the biggest municipalities as well as in counties. A substantial proportion of municipal politics is exerted through different committees. Law mandates some of these committees, like the Standing Committee for Planning Matters, responsible for local planning and permitting in the Municipality. This applies regardless of political and administrative organization.

Additionally, municipalities can establish committees as a majority of the politicians finds it suitable. A management office under the leadership of the Municipal Manager heads the municipal administration. In a parliamentary system the coordinating and leading role of the Municipal Manager is normally in the hands of the Commissioner of Finance. Officials working in the different municipal sectors are usually serving as secretaries for all the political units of the municipality. The municipalities' freedom to organize and structure their authority also applies in planning and building matters. The Municipality can delegate the authority and responsibilities of the Municipal Council, except when explicitly stated as for its role in the issuing of by-laws, in the acting as municipal planning authority, in the handling and considering of statutory plans, in matters of expropriation and stipulating of fees.

Although the Municipality is an executive construct, it is given certain legislative authorities, especially in matters of planning and permitting. A municipality can adopt bylaws for the whole or a part of the municipal area. Such bylaws can modify provisions of the Planning and Building Act, add to or exempt from these provisions, or make them more restrictive, unless otherwise provided. However, the authority to issue bylaws is limited to specific sections and formulations. For instance the provisions of this Act concerning expropriation and compensation can not be departed from to the detriment of a landowner or a holder of rights. The Municipal Council adopts the bylaws. Amendments or repeal of a bylaw shall be completed in the same way.

Furthermore, the Municipality has on specified legal conditions and after application, the authority to grant dispensations permanent or temporary from provisions in the Planning and Building Act, by-laws or regulations, when there are special reasons for doing so. For all the statutory local plans, the land use part of the municipal master plan, the zoning plan and the building development plan, this authority to exempt is assigned to the Standing Committee for Planning Matters.

The Municipality is the main executor of public welfare policies as municipalities are responsible for the production of community services such as education, first order health care, social services and to some extents public cultural services. Furthermore, it is responsible for the provision of local infrastructure as streets and roads, water and sewer lines as the linked treatment facilities, although the Municipality does not need to be the formal owner neither of infrastructure nor of other kinds of facilities. In addition, the Municipality holds the local planning authority mandated for initiating, preparing and the adopting of local plans as well as building permitting.

The municipalities have the authority to tax the inhabitants' income, and the Municipality can levy property tax within the municipal borders as well. Within certain limits, this authority to tax includes the freedom to decide over the tax load. Historically, the property tax has been very low and is still of minor fiscal importance. Besides, municipalities are entitled to use fees for the covering of costs concerning water, sewer and waste services. A central government tax allocating system is practiced in order to avoid that the local tax base will affect the municipalities' capacities to provide public services to acceptable standards and as equal as possible throughout the country. Each municipality is entitled to dispose certain amounts of money according to calculated needs based on criteria set in advance. If levied taxes should deviate substantially from these calculated amounts money will be transferred.

In the Norwegian model of a welfare state, the municipal division is regarded as the main immediate provider of public services. Provider in this regard means that the municipalities of both kinds have traditionally met requirements through three different roles: as the authority that safeguards the production of local and regional services according to rules and regulations, as the actual producers of these services and as owner of the facilities for the production of services under municipal authority. This more or less vertically integrated model for the provision of public services is still prevailing. However, the two latter roles are changing. To larger extents than earlier municipalities arrange their responsibilities for the production of services in separately organized entities and-or invite tenders according to bid procedures from private companies for the operations of services.