There are vertical relationships in partnerships between municipalities and the province, such as the province that supervises municipalities financially. This relationship can lead to tensions, according to research by the Northern Court of Audit. The province of Drenthe, for example, made use of the dominant position within the Drenthe Water Supply Company (WMD), according to the study.
Despite this, the partnerships between the two government bodies are generally of equal value, according to the same study by the Court of Audit, which found nineteen partnerships between the municipalities of Drenthe and the province.
According to the Court of Audit, the province’s supervision of environmental services is a good example of a vertical relationship between municipalities and the province, in which tensions can arise. In our country there are 29 environmental services that support and advise residents and companies in the field of environmental permits. In Drenthe there is one environmental service: the Regional Implementation Service Drenthe, in short: RUD Drenthe. But because the province itself participates in these environmental services, the executive service cannot be directly supervised. As a result, it is only possible to indirectly supervise municipalities that outsource work to the environmental service.
In many partnerships, decisions are made on the basis of agreement or a balanced vote. “And at the WMD there is a voting ratio in which the province is dominant,” the research report reads.
The province owns fifty percent of the shares in WMD NV and eleven municipalities in Drenthe the rest. “This gives the province a dominant position in which it can – if it wants to – stop all plans,” the report said. The WMD Commission of Inquiry already pointed this out to the province seven years ago with the recommendation to reconsider this position, but to date nothing has changed. It has been found that the province has regularly made use of its dominant position within the WMD, such as when setting the tariffs.
The province as the sole shareholder also refused to agree to a rate increase, the report says. “In order to still be able to determine the rates, additional consultations with the provincial executive had to take place and an additional General Meeting of Shareholders (AvA) had to be called. Due to the steering position of the province, the WMD management has adjusted the decision-making”, can be read in the report. To prevent the province from blocking a decision, the management of the WMD now first prepares important decisions with the AGM and then the Supervisory Board is informed.
On the basis of the results of the research report, the Northern Court of Audit advises the Provincial Executive, among other things, to evaluate the cooperation at certain moments and to examine to what extent the provincial participation in a partnership is still of added value.