The Municipality of Goleniów cannot count on benefits from the governmental programme supporting medium-sized cities. Indicators for Goleniów are much above the average, and therefore the municipality is not eligible.
The Polish government has offered support for cities above 20 thousand inhabitants (or 15 thousand provided they have the county status). EU funds designated amount to PLN 2.5 bn and the government promised to provide their support to attract investors and a number of measures preventing the outflow of people
from medium-sized cities to larger agglomerations or abroad.
The Ministry of Development selected 225 cities of the required population. Seven indicators were used to determine their development trends in 2004-2014 and similar trends in the future. Goleniów found itself in a small group of 7 cities
that had only one indicator at the level qualifying them for the governmental support. Only one city in the group (Luboń in Wielkopolska Region) had that indicator equal to zero. It means that Goleniów cannot count on such a governmental support at all and instead it must stand alone. The governmental list included 122 cities
with indicators at the level 3-7.
It’s bad and good news at the same time, said Mayor Robert Krupowicz. – Bad because it means that certain sources of funding will no longer be available for us as well as access to tools offered by the government. It’s good because it is a sign that we’ve been doing really well, the municipality has been growing and enjoys good prospects. I should add that considering this year’s budget we are among 4% of municipalities operating a budget in excess of PLN 150 m. Economic indicators of Goleniów are at the level of the largest cities enjoying a county status. It means that we are in the first division of local governments and there are reasons to be proud and satisfied.
