The road test of LFB toolkit was conducted in 2006 in Bulgaria by the National Association of Municipalities of the Republic of Bulgaria (NAMRB) in co-operation with six municipalities. The results of the assessments were confidential and were only intended as a management tool for the local authorities to be able to improve their financial management. This is why participating municipalities appear under the names of Municipalities 1 to 6. The reports below include the local finance benchmarking questionnaire, which is a simpler version, adapted to the needs of Bulgarian municipalities by NAMRB, the assessment report of one municipality and the full report of the road test. NAMRB subsequently implemented LFB in other 48 municipalities. The objectives, results and conclusions from project implementation in the pilot phase have been included in the Handbook for newly elected mayors and councilors, traditionally issued by the NAMRB at the beginning of each new mandate. The recommendations for developing local finance management practices were also incorporated in training modules for newly elected municipal officials. At the same time, based on the methodological conclusions from the pilot stage, the benchmark content has also been further developed.

Users of the benchmarking survey results are the local elected officials (mayor and municipal councillors), and the technical staff of the municipal administration, being in charge of developing local policies on financial and budget management.

• Full Report 2013
• Implementation of Benchmark on Local Finances in the Republic of Bulgaria, Blagoy Stanchev, PhD Parliamentary secretary of NAMRB