PRZYSZŁOŚĆ FINANSÓW SAMORZĄDOWYCH W POLSCE W ŚWIETLE ICH POTRZEB ROZWOJOWYCH

Since 2005 an increased investment activity of territorial governments in Poland has been noticed. This was possible due to the availability of quite significant funds from the EU non--repayable aid. Investments that are being implemented have led, on the one hand, to the widening of the scope and the improvement of quality of local public services and, on the other hand, to the rise in the maintaining costs of the infrastructure that was brought to life. Investment needs of self--governments are still really high. This article aims to present financial investment opportunities of Polish self governments after the year 2012. Achieving such an aim was possible due to the analysis of historical data concerning revenues and expenses of LSE as well as their forecasts for the future. Study of the literature was also carried out. Taking into consideration both the revenue and expenditure situation of self-governments and limitations in the indebtedness from 2014, it is possible to state that it is highly likely that a significant number of LSE will not be able to carry out investment activity, including this one, which can be financed from the EU non-repayable aid. Decreasing tax revenues together with increasing running expenses caused by, among others, increase in the cost of debt service or salaries, will result in the higher difficulty for the self-governments to set investment funds aside. As the forecasted revenues and expenditures of LSE show, keeping the system of financing with no changes will lead to such a situation that LSE neither will be able to carry out investment activity nor pass the budget for the future years. According to the estimates, the number of such LSEs can equal to 1300. Such a lingering situation in the long run will lead to the deepening of the infrastructural gap between Polish self-governments and better developed European countries.