Austerity in the Netherlands: Introduction
The current financial crisis is one of the main reasons that all levels of governments in industrial countries are rethinking their budgets. In order to get an insight into the austerity measures at the municipal level in the Netherlands, a survey addressed to all the 408 mayors and 408 city managers as well as their deputies, was conducted in the name of Leiden University and The Hague Governance Quarterly in Spring 2013.
The anonymous survey consisted of seven questions with an estimated answering time of seven minutes in total. With the number of inhabitants, the function in the municipality of the person answering, and the party-political majority in the municipal council, the first three questions polled control variables.
Question four was the first concerning austerity measures. The respondents were asked about the budget changes in 13 policy areas of their municipalities since the beginning of the financial crisis in 2008. Those 13 policy areas with municipal responsibilities are: spatial planning, traffic, environment, education, welfare, culture, sport, youth, integration, social policies, development cooperation, safety, and managing public space. The answering options reached from additional investments via an unchanged budget through to four degrees of savings for each policy field. In question five those polled were asked about their general expectations on savings in their municipality in the coming years. The same policy areas as question number four were listed and respondents had to rank these from a high to a low chance of savings according to the respondent's prospects.
Following the general expectations on future austerity measures of question five, question six asked for the three policy areas where the respondent would personally have the highest and least difficulties with future savings. By asking about problems with savings, personal preferences were uncovered in an indirect way. The policy fields to select from were the same as in questions four and five.
Question seven covered methods of savings. First the applied methods of saving since 2008 were covered, second the personal choices for future methods of savings were asked. Ten possibilities of conducting cuts were given to select from for both parts of the question.
The realisation of the survey on austerity measures in Dutch municipalities consisted of two consecutive steps. First, the survey population was asked to fill in an online version of the questionnaire. A short cover letter including the anonymous link to the survey was sent to the general e-mail addresses of the municipalities on May 8th, 2013. The cover letter requested the person reading it to forward the e-mail to the mayor, the city manager and their deputies. In order to improve the response rate, the survey was announced and advertised in the newsletters of Nederlands Genootschap van Burgemeesters and Vereniging van Nederlandse Gemeenten.
Postal letters shaped the second step of the survey. In case of mayors, the letters were sent out on 6th June 2013, and for city managers 17/20th May 2013. Letters to the deputy mayors and deputy city managers were not sent. The letters consisted of a personalized cover letter, a printed version of the questionnaire, with the same questions as the online questionnaire, and a pre-paid envelope in order to send the questionnaire back. Since it was an anonymous survey and it was unknown who had already taken part in the online version, postal letters were sent to all 408 mayors and 408 city managers. In the cover letter those who had already filled out the online questionnaire where asked to ignore the printed version. Apart from that, the postal cover letter corresponded to the digital version of the cover letter.
Finally, a combination of a letter of appreciation for those who have taken part in the survey and a last call for those who have not, was sent out to the general e-mail addresses of the municipalities, with the request to forward the message, which included the link to the online questionnaire again, to all mayors, city managers and their deputies on 25th June 25th 2013. The final closing date for both the online as well as the postal versions was 7th July 2013.
The anonymous survey consisted of seven questions with an estimated answering time of seven minutes in total. With the number of inhabitants, the function in the municipality of the person answering, and the party-political majority in the municipal council, the first three questions polled control variables.
Question four was the first concerning austerity measures. The respondents were asked about the budget changes in 13 policy areas of their municipalities since the beginning of the financial crisis in 2008. Those 13 policy areas with municipal responsibilities are: spatial planning, traffic, environment, education, welfare, culture, sport, youth, integration, social policies, development cooperation, safety, and managing public space. The answering options reached from additional investments via an unchanged budget through to four degrees of savings for each policy field. In question five those polled were asked about their general expectations on savings in their municipality in the coming years. The same policy areas as question number four were listed and respondents had to rank these from a high to a low chance of savings according to the respondent's prospects.
Following the general expectations on future austerity measures of question five, question six asked for the three policy areas where the respondent would personally have the highest and least difficulties with future savings. By asking about problems with savings, personal preferences were uncovered in an indirect way. The policy fields to select from were the same as in questions four and five.
Question seven covered methods of savings. First the applied methods of saving since 2008 were covered, second the personal choices for future methods of savings were asked. Ten possibilities of conducting cuts were given to select from for both parts of the question.
The realisation of the survey on austerity measures in Dutch municipalities consisted of two consecutive steps. First, the survey population was asked to fill in an online version of the questionnaire. A short cover letter including the anonymous link to the survey was sent to the general e-mail addresses of the municipalities on May 8th, 2013. The cover letter requested the person reading it to forward the e-mail to the mayor, the city manager and their deputies. In order to improve the response rate, the survey was announced and advertised in the newsletters of Nederlands Genootschap van Burgemeesters and Vereniging van Nederlandse Gemeenten.
Postal letters shaped the second step of the survey. In case of mayors, the letters were sent out on 6th June 2013, and for city managers 17/20th May 2013. Letters to the deputy mayors and deputy city managers were not sent. The letters consisted of a personalized cover letter, a printed version of the questionnaire, with the same questions as the online questionnaire, and a pre-paid envelope in order to send the questionnaire back. Since it was an anonymous survey and it was unknown who had already taken part in the online version, postal letters were sent to all 408 mayors and 408 city managers. In the cover letter those who had already filled out the online questionnaire where asked to ignore the printed version. Apart from that, the postal cover letter corresponded to the digital version of the cover letter.
Finally, a combination of a letter of appreciation for those who have taken part in the survey and a last call for those who have not, was sent out to the general e-mail addresses of the municipalities, with the request to forward the message, which included the link to the online questionnaire again, to all mayors, city managers and their deputies on 25th June 25th 2013. The final closing date for both the online as well as the postal versions was 7th July 2013.
