Efficiency of public benefits and services of the federal state of Tyrol and its municipalities

Results of the EcoAustria federal state benchmarking
Study commissioned by the Tyrolean Chamber of Commerce

Public administration services in Austria are of a high standard and high quality. The population has confidence in state services, particularly at regional and municipal level. Conversely, this comes at a high price. In many service areas, expenditure is above average in an EU comparison.

The study looks at the efficiency of public administration in the province of Tyrol and its municipalities. EcoAustria Benchmarking looks at efficiency potential in the areas of general administration, compulsory education, care provision and childcare. Based on the results of a joint workshop between EcoAustria, representatives of Tyrolean companies and the Tyrolean Chamber of Commerce, as well as the results of the literature, the main structural obstacles and barriers were described.

Across all areas considered, the efficiency potential of public budgets in Tyrol is around 200 million euros. For general administration alone, an efficiency potential of 9.5% of total expenditure is calculated for Tyrol. This corresponds to an absolute potential of around 90 million euros. From the companies' perspective, barriers to efficiency are seen in particular in the length of procedures and procedural uncertainties, compliance obligations and bureaucratic requirements, appeal options and the high density of regulation. Company representatives note that procedures and processes are not always handled uniformly across municipal and district borders. A high administrative burden on the state is reflected in high administrative costs for companies and households in the private sector. This has a negative impact on competitiveness and profitability. In addition, the untapped potential of digitalization is evident when processes in construction and commercial approval procedures, for example, are still handled analogously.