<%@LANGUAGE="VBSCRIPT" CODEPAGE="1252"%> Civic Network of South Tyrol

Welcome to South Tyrol

Municipal and District Government

Bolzano/BozenSouth Tyrol has 116 municipalities, everyone belonging to one of the seven districts of the Province; the only exception is the municipality of Bozen (Bolzano), which constitutes a district in itself (the eighth). Each municipality has its statutes and, as an autonomous corporation, has its own organs: the mayor, as the head and the representative of the municipality; the municipal council, as the political-administrative directing and control body; and the municipal committee which, with the major at its head, is responsible for carrying out all administrative activities. The municipal committee also possesses so-called residual powers, in that it has to carry out all measures which are not by law or the statutes reserved to the council, the major, the municipal clerk or senior civil servants.
The number of municipal councillors depends on the number of inhabitants of the municipality concerned, extending from 15 councillors for municipalities with less than 3,000 inhabitants to 50 councillors for municipalities with over 100,000 inhabitants or provincial administrative centres.

The duties of the municipality involve all the administrative powers which affect the population and the territory of the municipality, particularly in the social services sector, area planning and utilisation and economic development.
Social functions involve the maintenance of public security and order (the municipal police) and responsibility for the fire brigade. The municipality must care for the old, the poor an the sick, undertake obligatory vaccinations and ensure burial facilities. In addition the major is responsible for local health. The municipality is responsible for sports facilities and supervises slaughter-houses; it is also responsible for cemeteries, rubbish disposal and sewage, and for drawing up building guidelines. Cultural functions involve the building and maintenance of schools, theatres, museums, libraries and archives. Economic functions involve traffic arrangements as well as upkeep of the local traffic network, the provision of energy and water, public lightening and general promotion of the economy. The municipality looks after the preparation of business plans and supervises business activity in its area. It deals with advertising and public displays either directly or through licences. The municipalities have also had transferred to them powers regarding the opening and running of hotels and restaurants, the operation of hotel trade regulations (Provincial Law of 14 December 1988, n. 58), and control of business and trade regulations. Finally, the municipality is responsible for local registry offices, military service rolls and the conduct of elections. At the moment the tax sovereignty of the municipalities in South Tyrol is rather limited. The ordinary municipality budget is met by subsidies from the Province. In the field of local finance, the trend is again for the municipalities to have made available their own tax revenue, and in that regard a local business tax and a buildings tax has been introduced.

Thanks to the constitutional reform enforced by the constitutional law n°3/2001 the role of the municipalities has generally revalued. They form together with the state, regions, provinces and capital cities the building elements of the republic, the principals of the municipal autonomy is defined by the constitution itself. In future, the municipalities shall receive more administrative competencies and a financial autonomy, also in the taxation sector.
For the supervision of the relations between the Regions and the municipalities, an own council of the local autonomies must be instituted for the co-ordination of possible problems and the general consultation.. For the South Tyrolese municipalities, these new regulations will come into force only after the amendment of the Autonomy Statute, because on the basis of the transitional regulation, responsible for this matter, which provides that until the amendment of the Autonomy Statute has not been enforced, just those regulations, which are favourable for the Region and the provinces, will be applied, the general administrative power of the province, laid down in art. 16ff. of the Autonomy Statute can not be restricted. However, the mentioned principals favourable for the municipalities must be considered in the amendment of the Statute.

The biggest municipality in South Tyrol in terms of surface area is Sarntal (Val Sarentino) with 302.50 km², and the smallest is Kuens (Caines) with 1.66 km². The biggest municipality in terms of population is the city of Bozen (Bolzano) with 97,232 inhabitants while the smallest is Waidbruck (Ponte Gardena) with 180.
Five municipalities in South Tyrol have an Italian-speaking majority, Bozen (Bolzano), Leifers (Laives), Salurn (Salorno), Branzoll (Branzolo) and Pfatten (Vadena). In the eight municipalities in the Ladin valleys of Grödental (Val Badia) the Ladins are in the majority. All the remaining 103 municipalities have a German-speaking majority.

In South Tyrol there are eight districts:

Burggrafenamt (Burgraviato) [consisting of 26 municipalities, 88,326 inhabitants, 1,100.73 km², with its seat in Meran (Merano)];
Eisacktal (Val Isarco) [13 municipalities, 44,464 habitants, 623.78 km², with its seat in Brixen (Bressanone)];
Pustertal (Val Pusteria) [26 municipalities, 73,146 habitants, 2,071.66 km², with its seat in Bruneck (Brunico)];
Salten-Schlern (Salto-Sciliar) [13 municipalities, 44,464 inhabitants, 1,036.63 km², with its seat in Bozen (Bolzano)];
Überetsch-Südtiroler Unterland (Oltradige-Bassa Atesina) [18 municipalities, 62,956 inhabitants, 423.60 km², with its seat in Neumarkt (Egna)];
Vinschgau (Val Venosta) [13 municipalities, 32,342 inhabitants, 1,441.68 km², with its seat in Schlanders (Silandro)];
and Wipptal (Alta Val d'Isarco) [six municipalities, 17,735 inhabitants, 650.01 km², with its seat in Sterzing (Vipiteno)].
The City of Bozen (Bolzano) has its own district [97,237 inhabitants, 52.43 km²].

churchThe organs of those districts are the president, the district committee and the district council. The powers of the district include, amongst other things, the implementation of supra-municipal building plans (schools, sewers, roads, homes for the elderly), the examination and resolution of supra- and intermunicipal problems, the preparation of plans for the economic, social and cultural development of the area as well as, since the beginning of 1993, the management of social services.