Inter-municipal cooperation in the development of public services in Valga County

Margus Lepik Valga County Governor

Estonia by the Baltic Sea

Population: 1.34 million Capital: Tallinn

Official language: Estonian (similar to Finnish language)

Currency: Euro

Member of EU and NATO: 2004

Member of Schengen zone: 2007 E-country: 100% schools and government online, digital paperwork, digital signatures.
Country credit ratings Fitch A+ S&P AAMoodys A1

Valga county
Area: 2046,49 km Population: 33 299 Population density: 15,3 person per km 2 town and 11 rural municipalities Administrative centre: Valga town Distance from Tallinn 245 km, Riga 168 km
Otep
Population: 2 141

Trva
Population: 2 736

Valga
Population: 12 539

Municipalities roles
Social work & health care, Education, culture sports, Public technical services (water supply, sewerage, heating etc), Environmental control, Local infrastructure planning and building (roads, public facilities), Local development planning.

Need for cooperation

Lack of resources in local municipalities for all activities and roles, Lack of competent specialists in local municipalities, No capacity for bigger projects, Need for sectorial cooperation within the county in special areas.

Valga County Association of Local Authorities

Common goal united development in the county. Formed in1992, all the municipalities of Valga County are represented. Legal form is NGO. The highest body is General Meeting, every municipality has 2 votes. Board of directors - 4 members. Personnel CEO, secretary, book-keeper, environmental department (4 persons).

Development department
Counselling in business plans, EU financing projects, destination development and marketing Opinions and positions in tourism and development issues Project writing and management, Coordination of tourism activities, representing in tourism issues.

Environmental department
Water one supplier, harmonized water and sewer service rates, joint projects. Waste organised waste collection with one rate, waste stations network, joint planning. Environmental supervision common basis for legal acts, united monitoring and control system, cooperation with national supervisor organisations, supervision tasks, representing municipalities in environmental issues.

ViSoEst by Bike (Est-Lat)

1,8 million for developing 1 296 km cycling route Tour de LatEst

Signs, parking and resting places, info boards; Route maps and broshures; Technical documentation of light traffic roads; Joint marketing activities; Marathon on July 11-24, 2010 International Cycling Conference Oct 2010, Valga.

Via Hanseatica (Est-Lat-Rus)

1,8 million for developing tourism VIA HANSEATICA in Estonia, Latvia, Russia (2012-2014).
From transport corridor to attractive tourism route: rising quality of services, product development, joint marketing materials and activities.

www.arenguagentuur.ee

Via Hanseatica

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Riverways(Est-Lat)
1,8 million for developing water tourism in Estonia and Latvia (2013-2014). Cleaning river banks, building resting places, planning water tourism and infrastructure, developing new routes, rising services quality by trainings, joint marketing materials and activities. www.arenguagentuur.ee

Riverways

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TRES (Interreg IVc)

1,4 million for developing Smart Specialization in EU regions: Estonia, Finland, Scotland, Italy, Germany, Hungary, Romania, Spain (2012-2014). Analysing regions, spreading innovation based information and good practices, updating regional development strategies. www.tr3s-project.eu/