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IV Supports Provided by the National Government for the Promotion of Municipal Mergers
Since the 2001 Guideline, the National government has implemented the following programs in order to promote the municipal mergers. Prefectures are expected to support municipalities to achieve the mergers. Also, municipalities are expected to take actions for the mergers spontaneously with utilizing the support programs provided by both the National government and Prefectures.
| (1) |
Municipal Merger Support Plan and Merger Special Public Works |
Under the Cabinet, the 'Municipality Merger Support Center' was established in order to appeal to the citizens and to coordinate the relevant ministries about the municipal mergers. The chairman of the center is the Prime Minister, co-vice chairmen are the Cabinet Vice Director and the Vice Prime Minister, and other members are all other Vice Ministers, In August 2001, the Center decided the 'Municipality Merger Support Plan' (hereafter referred as the 'Support Plan') that covers both the municipalities that Prefectures designate for the Merger Special Support Areas and the municipalities that merge before March in 2005. The Support Plan says that all departments and agencies in the National government pay efforts on the cooperative support programs to help the relevant municipalities to unify for mergers. For example, the fifty-seven programs in many policy areas are provided preferably and are invested intensively. Some programs are focus on the prevention of many hazards for mergers. Based on the Support Plan, the FY 2002 budget has been allocated for these programs. The departments and agencies will consider the expansion of the Support Plan from now on.
In addition, the 'financial aid for the construction works for the city planning and community building of merged municipalities' and the 'financial aid for the Merger Support Programs of Prefectures', both of which were mentioned in the Section 1- (1) - 2 of Chapter 3 of the Support Plan, have been expanded and implemented as the 'Merger Special Programs' as described below.
- Merger Special Programs
Merger Special Programs for Municipalities are divided into 'Before-the-Merger Programs' and 'After-the-Merger Programs'. The Before-the-Merger Programs are provided to the Merger Special Support Areas and are focus on the support for such public works that are undertaken from 2002 to 2004 and are expected to actually contribute to the mergers. The After-the-Merger Programs consist of the public works that are financed with the Merger Special Bonds provided by the Article 11-2 of the Municipal Merger Law.
Programs for Prefectures are provided to the Merger Special Support Areas. These programs consist of the public works for transportation infrastructure that will contribute to the mergers and will be undertaken within ten years before and after the merger.
| i) |
Programs for Municipalities |
| (a) |
Before-the-Merger Programs (Proportion of the costs
financed with bonds to total costs (hereafter referred as 'Bond Finance Proportion'):
90%, Proportion of the payment of the principle and interest of the bonds that
are included in the calculation of the Local Allocation Tax as the Correction
based on Public Works (hereafter referred as 'Calculation Proportion'): 50%)
These programs consist of the Non-national-grant works that contribute to the
mergers and are applied to one of the following criteria, a) to c).
| a) |
Construction of public facility that is undertaken by one municipality
in the Merger Special Support Area and are paid by other municipalities in the
area for a part of the construction cost to the municipality. |
| b) |
Constructions of public facilities that cross borders of municipalities
in the area and are undertaken by some municipalities in the area all at once
at the same time with coordination among these municipalities. |
| c) |
Construction of public facility that are undertaken by a Municipal
Union or a Wide-area Union in the area. |
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| * |
These programs are special aids for the municipalities
that merge before the end of the expiration period of the Municipality Merger
Law (March 2005). Therefore, if the municipality issues a bond under these programs
but does not merge before the period, the Local Allocation Tax based on the principles
and interests of this bond will not allocated to the municipality after 2005. |
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| (b) |
After-the-Merger Programs (Public works financed
with the Merger Special Bonds), (Bond Finance Proportion: 95%, Calculation Proportion:
70%)
| a) |
Financial Aid for the Construction Works for the
New Community Building in the Merged Municipality
Costs for the Public Works that are included in the Municipality Building Plan
and are considered to be especially needed. (For ten years after a merger.) |
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* |
In addition, the investment payment or the grant from the general
account to the enterprise account for the increased costs for the water supply,
the wastewater, and the hospital, if it is really necessary, can be financed with
the Merger Special Bond, and the payment for the principles and interests for
the bond are calculated in the Amount of the Standard Financial Needs of the Local
Allocation Tax (Bond Finance Proportion: 100%, Calculation Proportion: 70%). |
| b) |
Financial Aid for the Fund for the Promotion of
the Merged Municipality
Creating the fund for the regional development of each district based on the pre-merger
municipalities and for the unification of the residents. (For ten years after
the merger.) |
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| ii) |
Programs for Prefectures (Bond Finance Proportion: 90%, Calculation
Proportion: 50%) |
| (a) |
These programs consist of public works of transportation
infrastructures such as roads and bridges that connect the municipalities in the
Merger Special Support Areas or the municipalities that have merged from April
in 1995 to May in 2001. The public works have to satisfy the following criteria:
| a) |
For National-government-direct public works or public works
with National grants, these public works have to be financed with the specially
allocated funds. |
| b) |
For Municipal own public works, Prefectures have to allocate
funds especially for the public works in order to promote mergers. |
| c) |
Commitment payments from the municipalities for the public
works with or without national grants have to be allowed to be financed with bonds
(Bond Finance Proportion: 90%, Calculation Proportion: 50%) |
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| (b) |
Programs have to be listed in the 'Municipal Merger
Support Roads Construction Plan' or the 'Municipal Merger Support Agricultural
Roads Construction Plan' that is formulated after the designation of the Merger
Special Support Area or after mergers (mergers are limited to those occurred from
April in 1995 to May in 2001). These programs have to be done on the year of the
formulation of these plans or with in ten years of it.
| * |
When the municipalities do not merge by the period
( until March in 2005), the Local Allocation Tax for the principle and interest
of the bonds will not be allocated to these programs after 2005. The programs
are special to the period. |
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| (c) |
The upper bound of the total costs of the programs
for each Merger Special Support Area is a half of the Standard total costs for
the Merger Special Bonds. |
| (2) |
Manual for the Operation of Meeting on Merger |
This manual is published on August 6 in 2001 by the Research Group for the Municipal Merger Statutory Negotiation Meeting Operation Manual organized in MPHPT in order to help municipalities all over the country to negotiate mergers smoothly within the period of the Merger Special Law. For writing the manual, the study group researched the advanced practices. The manual shows the practical process from establishment of the Merger Negotiation Meetings to realization of mergers and includes the following points.
| i) |
Municipal Merger should be done for the residents
and is an unavoidable issue from any aspects. |
| ii) |
Establishing the Statutory Negotiation Meeting
is the first thing to do, and the rational for the merger should be discussed
in the meeting. |
| iii) |
The Statutory Negotiation Meeting should start
with the formulation of the Municipality Construction Plan. After developing the
plan, the meeting should explain it to the residents and start negotiating for
the conditions for mergers. |
| iv) |
Standard duration from establishing the Merger
Negotiation Meeting to realization of the merger is twenty-two months. The preparation
for the merger negotiation should be two months, formulating the municipality
construction plan is six months, the negotiation for the conditions of merger
contract should be eight months and the preparation for the merger should be six
months. |
| v) |
The important conditions for the merger negotiation
are called 'fundamental four conditions' and 'the conditions you may spent much
time for negotiation'. The former consists of the method of merger, date of merger,
the name of the merged municipalities and the location of the new office for the
merged municipalities. The latter is the assignment of the municipal assembly
members and treatment of the properties. |
| (3) |
Public Relations and Appeal |
| i) |
Appeal to the Residents |
| (a) |
In 2002, Public Relations activity and appeal will
be done through the year. Also, in those areas in all 47 prefectures where the
mood for the merger should be improved, relay symposium will be held and will
be participated with some members of the National government's Municipality Merger
Support Center. |
| (b) |
The month of June in 2002 is designated to the
'Municipality Merger Appeal Special Month'. The 'Municipality Merger Special Support
Symposium' and the activities for appeal on municipal mergers through such media
as a government broadcasting program will be done all at once. |
| ii) |
Networking Meetings among merger negotiation meetings
and study groups |
Networking Meetings among merger negotiation meetings and study groups will be held in order to promote mergers by encouraging communications among municipalities.
| iii) |
Providing Information to Municipalities' Chiefs
and Members of Municipal Assembly |
| (a) |
In the areas where the promotion of the mood for
the mergers, the meeting to explain the Municipality Merger Support Plan and the
Merger Negotiation Meeting Operation Manual etc. will be held for municipalities'
chiefs and members of municipal congress with cooperation with the prefectures. |
| (b) |
The information on municipality mergers such as
the trend through the Nation and the designation of the Merger Special Support
Areas will be provided constantly to municipalities' chiefs and members of municipal
assembly. |
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