Financial and budget provision of small and medium-sized cities (the case of the Vologda oblast)

The article is devoted to the study of the urgent scientific and practical problem of ensuring the small and medium-sized cities’ financial independence in conditions of the increasing dependence of urban settlements’ budgets on the volumes of federal and regional transfers. The aim of the study is to analyze the financial and budget security of small and medium-sized cities in the case of the Vologda Oblast. The paper presents the main indicators of the population of Russia and the Vologda Oblast, which reveal the concentration of the country’s inhabitants in large cities and the outflow of the population from small and medium-sized cities. The structure of the small cities’ budgets in the Vologda Oblast is examined and analyzed, which showed that only six out of thirteen urban settlements have their own revenues. Analysis of the dynamics of financial independence indicators of small cities’ budgets in the region shows positive changes in most settlements. The ranking of the region’s small cities by income indicators per inhabitant was conducted, which revealed a mismatch in the distribution of ranks before and after the distribution of intergovernmental transfers. Separate results of questioning the region’s urban settlements heads are also presented, which indicate the presence of problems in the formation of city budgets and ensuring the financial independence of the settlements. Measures to increase own revenue base are proposed as the main directions of increasing the level of financial security of the small cities’ budgets. The need to increase intergovernmental transfers effectiveness is emphasized. During the study, the methods of system analysis, sociological research, tabular and graphical techniques for data visualization were used. The results obtainedduring the study can be used in the work of federal, regional and municipal authorities in improving socio-economic policies, developing and implementing measures aimed at improving the municipal budgets’ financial stability, as well as in identifying opportunities and prospects for small and medium-sized cities self-development.