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Appendix 2 New Approach based on "Guide to Promote Mergers among Municipalities" (Precept)
(Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts & Telecommunications March 19, 2001)
I Basic Concept in Promoting Mergers among Municipalities
A municipal merger, which is associated with what a municipality should be, brings about a great influence on the future of the municipality and the lives of inhabitants in it. Therefore, it is essential for municipalities and their inhabitants to tackle with it actively and voluntarily.
The issue of municipal mergers is also critical for Japan to form its system of local autonomy in the 21 century. Hence, it is essential that not only municipalities and their inhabitants but also national and prefectural governments should work on the issue.
The promotion of municipal mergers has emerged as an urgent and unavoidable challenge with the following reasons.
| (1) |
Promotion of Regionalism (Decentralization) |
Now that regionalism has developed into a phase to be carried out, municipalities, which are responsible for providing general public services as basic local autonomous bodies, are much expected to build themselves as active communities with regional identities by making the most of their regional characteristics on their own judgments and responsibilities. To achieve this goal, they are required, not only to reinforce their administrative and financial basis and accomplish executive efficiency, but also to decide and execute their public services and various policies actively, with the creativity suitable for regional condition and with participations of inhabitants.
| (2) |
Response to administrative challenges involving wide regions,
which are getting more diverse and more sophisticated |
After the rapid economic growth, both the establishment of the traffic system and the recent development and prevalence of information and telecommunication technologies allow inhabitants to act widely well over the previous administrative borders. This, in turn, requires the existence of wide regional development and services, such as establishment of a traffic system over a wide area, joint foundation or reciprocal sharing of public facilities, and land use over administrative borders.
Moreover, today, municipalities are forced to respond accurately to the administrative challenges, including aging society with decreasing children, environmental problems, and evolving informationalization, all of which are getting more diverse and more sophisticated and are involving wider regions.
| i) |
Response to the aging society with decreasing children |
The aging society requires more medication, health care, and welfare. This, in turn, involves higher cost and shortage of human resource, which have generated our concern. To provide health care and welfare services smoothly, municipalities are required to secure sufficient staff and to improve its specialty. However, certain municipalities, depending on their size and their executive systems, can have difficulty to do this.
Other concerns are the decline of regional economies and the reduction of tax revenue, all of which result from the decrease of people in the working age group. Municipalities need to provide basic public services surely.
| ii) |
Response to the environmental problems |
While inhabitants increasingly recognize environmental problems, it has become an urgent issue to make incinerators large so as not to generate dioxin. Such issues as acceleration of recycling and preservation of the natural environment need to be handled as large-scale problems over municipal administrative borders.
| iii) |
Response to the evolving informationalization |
To respond to the rapidly evolving informationalization, municipalities are required to introduce sophisticated information technology to their public services and to "informationalize their regions". To achieve this goal, they need to organize information-technology departments and secure experts. In the meantime, informationalization is expected to allow them to spread public services widely and to maintain, or improve, the level of the public services familiar to inhabitants, by decreasing the gaps between inhabitants and municipalities.
| (3) |
Response to both national and local financial conditions |
Our national economy is under a very severe condition. The total amount of both national and local liabilities as of the end of FY 2001 is estimated to reach as much as 666 trillion yen, among which the amount of local liabilities is estimated to exceed 188 trillion yen by the end of FY 2001.
Under the severe condition of both national and local economies, municipalities need to strengthen their administrative and financial basis, to accomplish simpler and more efficient administrative and financial management, and to develop themselves widely over the existent administrative borders.
"The Great Mergers in Showa Era," which was encouraged by "the Towns and Villages Merger Promotion Law" (1953, Law No. 258) and the following "New Municipalities Building Promotion Law" (1956, Law No. 164), aimed to clear small municipalities with the population of less than eight thousand. The intention behind this was to delegate public services to municipalities, while public services were being reallocated among municipalities, prefectures and the nation, based on the Recommendation made by the Investigation Committee of Local Administration (the so-called Kobe Committee, held on December 22, 1950, and September 22, 1951). But, this time, when decentralization has grown to be a reality, a merger aims to build new municipal systems, which allow all the regions to make the most of the fruit of the decentralization and to adapt to the change of the socio-economic situation. Municipal mergers should be discussed and promoted, according to each regional situation.
The demand that the area of municipal administration should be wider has made municipalities execute such systems as to share their tasks using "ichibujimukumiai" and "kouikirengou." However, these systems are likely to make each responsibility unclear. Moreover, it takes much time and efforts to negotiate with the municipalities concerned. Therefore, swift and adequate decision-makings are hindered, and executions of projects sometimes run into trouble1. Therefore, special attention should be paid not to allow adoption of joint administrative operations to disturb consideration of municipal mergers.
II Prefectures' Guide to Support Municipality Mergers
Each prefecture should steadily promote municipal mergers under its "Guide to Promote Mergers among Municipalities," paying attention to the followings.
| (1) |
Establishment of Supporting Centers for Municipal Mergers |
It is desirable to establish a supporting center for municipal mergers with each governor as the head and with all offices involved and branch offices with heads of local offices as the heads as soon as possible in 2001. The supporting centers announce annual specific projects
| 1 |
Making of Lodestar to Promote Mergers among Municipalities,
"I. Basic Concept in Promoting Mergers among Municipalities," "3. Relationship
between Municipal Mergers and Broader Administration" |
(Refer to (2)) in advance. Along the plans, they are expected to support positively efforts of municipalities within their jurisdictions toward mergers.
It is also desirable to set up advising sections at their central and local offices to provide information and consultations on municipal mergers.
By the way, the national government is now preparing to establish "the National Supporting Center for Municipal Mergers" (tentative name) to enlighten people on municipal mergers and to promote coordination on national policies among the ministries concerned.
| (2) |
Specific Approaches to Support Municipal Mergers |
| i) |
Promotion of Atmosphere toward Mergers |
It is desirable to promote atmosphere toward mergers by holding symposiums with municipalities and citizens. In the meantime, it is planned that "the National Conference to Consider of Municipal Mergers in the 21 Century" will soon be established by proposal of experts and that national agreements, promotion of atmosphere, and various enlightening campaigns will be made to achieve municipal mergers. The Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications (MPHPT) will cooperate with such activities. As the Conference plans to set up a branch office in each prefecture, each prefectural government is also desired to cooperate closely with these.
| ii) |
Intensively Supported Zone for Mergers |
| (a) |
Assignment of Intensively Supported Zone for Mergers
(ISZM) |
Each prefecture compares the mergers among municipalities in each jurisdiction with the patterns of municipal mergers shown by the Guide. On the basis of this situation, each prefecture assigns at least several regions as ISZMs out of the regions listed below as soon as possible in 2001. In these zones, it is expected to establish councils for mergers swiftly yet according to their situations and to have specific arguments on mergers. ISZMs need to be additionally assigned according to atmosphere and situation of mergers. In assigning, prefectures need to ask the opinions of municipalities concerned in advance and after assigning they need to announce the assignments and report to the MPHPT.
| a) |
A region where atmosphere toward a merger are growing
among its inhabitants. |
| b) |
A region where a council for merger or a voluntary
council that is not based on "the Municipal Merger Promotion Act" (1965 Law No.
6) |
| c) |
A region where municipalities concerned have made
efforts toward a merger and some municipalities among them requested for an assignment |
| d) |
A region where each prefecture considers it adequate
to reinforce supporting measures on a merger in view of regional situation |
As for ISZMs, a part of a combination of municipalities in the patterns of municipal mergers shown by the Guide or a set of some combinations of municipalities in these patterns can be assigned in according to the situation of municipal mergers in the jurisdiction. Moreover, prefectures can negotiate with neighboring prefectures and cooperatively assign an ISZM over the prefectural borders.
| (b) |
Reinforcement of Supporting Measures in ISZMs |
When prefectures assigned some ISZMs, they are desired to involve all related offices using supporting centers for municipal mergers and to execute supporting measures listed below in according to the situation.
| a) |
Before establishment of councils for mergers
| ・ |
Intensive executions of projects for enlightenment (symposiums,
lectures, cooperatively-held survey to inhabitants, enlightenment to promote understanding
of inhabitants cooperated with private sectors, delegation of experts, etc.) |
| ・ |
Human support to voluntary councils for mergers at the request
of municipalities concerned (participation to voluntary councils for mergers,
delegations of officials to voluntary council secretariats for mergers, acceptances
of officials of the municipalities concerned for training, etc.) |
| ・ |
Investigations (support for municipalities' making of long-term
forecasts on administration and finance, etc.) |
|
| b) |
After establishment of councils for mergers
| ・ |
Human support to councils for mergers at their requests (participation
to councils for mergers as scholars, delegations of officials to secretariats
of councils for mergers, acceptances of officials of the municipalities concerned
for training, etc.) |
| ・ |
Investigations (support for municipalities' making of long-term
forecasts on administration and finance, etc.) |
| ・ |
Attention so that continuous discussions may be held in councils
for mergers (recommendations, coordination among municipalities with unsuccessful
negotiations, coordination regarding to topics in agreement for mergers, advice
in makings of municipal building plans, etc., based on "the Manual for Management
of Legal Council of Municipal Mergers"(Refer to III, (2)) |
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It is desired to take similar measures as b. above for regions that are not ISZMs and have councils for mergers.
| (c) |
Recommendation to Establish Councils for Mergers |
When a council for merger is not established within a year after the assignment as an ISZM, prefectures should consider to recommend municipalities in the zone to establish a council for merger under the provisions of the 252-2-4 article of the Local Autonomy Law and the 16-2-1 article of the Municipal Merger Promotion Act.
| iii) |
Supporting Measures after Mergers |
In order to secure smooth administrations in merged municipalities, prefectures are desired to utilize their supporting centers for municipal mergers and to execute supporting measures listed below.
| (a) |
Human support to merged municipalities at their
requests (delegations of officials to merged municipalities, acceptances of officials
of merged municipalities for training, etc.) |
| (b) |
Intensive execution of prefectures' projects listed
in municipalities building plans |
| (c) |
Subsidy to the projects of merged municipalities |
| (d) |
Execution of projects with consideration of situation
of ex-municipalities (adoption of subsidies) |
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