Slovak auditors reviewed 851 agreements concluded by six regional and nine district towns between 2020 and 2024. In total, almost €11 million was paid out over five years on the basis of such agreements in the municipalities under review. The funds paid for agreements represented a maximum of 6.30% of the total payroll expenditure of the local government (City of Trenčín). In Banská Bystrica and Nitra, the amount paid to contractors did not even reach one percent, as tasks were mostly carried out by permanent employees. The number of agreements increased by almost 24% over five years and municipal expenditure by more than 28%, partly due to extraordinary positions created to deal with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, election organisation, or EU-funded projects. Agreements with evaluators of non-repayable financial contribution applications and members of election commissions were subject to reimbursement.

The towns audited were Banská Bystrica, Nitra, Prešov, Trenčín, Trnava, Žilina, Liptovský Mikuláš, Nové Zámky, Poprad, Považská Bystrica, Zvolen, Pezinok, Piešťany, Rožňava and Trebišov. Over the five-year period, these towns concluded 13,535 agreements. Although the situation in local governments was better than in state institutions, auditors still identified shortcomings. These included breaches of the Labour Code, such as the failure to comply with the requirement that agreements be exceptional, improper record-keeping of agreements and working time, or insufficient familiarisation of contractors with safety regulations. Cases of uneconomical use of public funds and spending beyond approved authorisations were also found. In addition, 13 out of 15 municipalities either failed to carry out basic financial control or did so only formally. Positive examples were the towns of Považská Bystrica and Zvolen, where no violations of generally binding legal regulations were detected.

“The results of this audit confirmed that local governments act as prudent managers and, given the current financial condition of the state, carefully consider the use of every euro. To increase transparency in the use of public resources, we recommend that towns and municipalities adopt clear internal procedures for concluding work agreements. It is also necessary to pay more attention to basic financial control – it should not be just a formality,” stressed Henrieta Crkoňová, Vice-President of the Supreme Audit Office. She also recommended that municipal auditors “regularly include checks on compliance with rules for concluding work agreements outside regular employment contracts in their annual audit plans.”

In the regional capitals audited, the average annual number of agreements was 252, with Žilina and Trnava recording the highest numbers. In towns with populations over 30,000, an average of 141 agreements were concluded annually. Municipalities with up to 30,000 inhabitants concluded on average 124 agreements per year, with Piešťany recording the fewest. Žilina had the highest costs among the regional capitals over the period – more than €1.76 million – while Banská Bystrica had the lowest at €600,000. Among towns with over 30,000 inhabitants, Považská Bystrica had the highest five-year expenditure on contractors, exceeding €695,000, while Liptovský Mikuláš had the lowest at €325,000.

Among towns with fewer than 30,000 inhabitants, Pezinok made the greatest use of agreements between 2020 and 2024, at a cost of €394,000. Piešťany recorded the lowest costs, at €257,000. In three municipalities – Liptovský Mikuláš, Nové Zámky and Žilina – auditors identified cases where employees on permanent contracts also had additional work agreements and the work performed under those agreements overlapped with their regular working hours. The audit also revealed cases where contractors were paid beyond authorisations, such as exceeding the statutory scope of work (e.g. Liptovský Mikuláš, Trnava, Žilina), exceeding the scope agreed in the contract (City of Pezinok), or being paid for time for which they had no legal entitlement (Liptovský Mikuláš, Nitra, Trnava, Žilina).