The concept of township government

Question 5

Investigation and thinking on the reform of township institutions in our city

Actively and steadily promoting the reform of township institutions is an important way to promote the reform of administrative system, improve the efficiency of administrative work, vigorously promote the innovation of institutional mechanisms, and explore the acceleration of rural industrialization and modernization under the new situation. Under the background that the reform of county (city, district) institutions has basically ended, the reform of township institutions has gradually been put on the agenda. Based on the in-depth investigation of some towns and villages in our city, this paper puts forward some shallow thoughts.

First, the current problems in the management of township institutions in our city

(1) Problems arising from institutional reasons.

As the first-level party committees and governments at the grass-roots level, villages and towns are influenced by the administrative system, and their management has strong mandatory characteristics. Its administrative divisions are influenced by historical evolution, or restricted by traffic, communication and natural geographical conditions, which sometimes do not meet the requirements of current local economic development; Its institutional setup often pays more attention to the corresponding relationship with the higher-level institutions, and does not conform to the principle of streamlining and efficiency, and so on. Due to institutional reasons, there are many problems in the management of township institutions, which are embodied in the following aspects:

1, small scale and high administrative cost.

According to the statistics at the end of last year, there were 1.754 townships in the province with an average population of 20,600. Compared with this, the towns and villages in our city are much smaller. There are 194 townships in the city with a total population of 2.48 million, with an average population of10.28 million per township (since other cities in our province and related towns in our city are merging, the number of townships and the average population of townships are changing, so this paper quotes the statistical data at the end of last year). Take Liandu as an example. The original population of 20 townships is168,000, and the average population of each township is less than100,000. The minimum resident population in Zhengdi Township is only 2,400. On the one hand, it is difficult for small towns and villages to give full play to the agglomeration function and spatial reorganization of capital, technology and talents, and the poor enjoyment of resources restricts their development pace and urbanization process; On the other hand, the small scale of villages and towns does not mean the streamlining of township government institutions and the improvement of efficiency. On the contrary, due to the problem of supporting institutions in towns and villages, the administrative cost is high, which increases the burden on farmers in a certain sense. Take Songyang and Longquan as examples. Last year, there were 20 towns in these two counties and cities, 17 townships, with a total population of 2312.42 million and 2742130,000 respectively. The number of financial support (including teachers) is 3 125 and 3,529 respectively, with an average of 74 and 78 farmers supporting 1 person.

2. Decentralized institutions and lack of service functions.

At present, there are too many township organizations in our city, but their responsibilities are unclear. To some extent, there are problems of buck passing and inefficiency. Take Shui Ge Town of Liandu as an example. 3 1 for cadres, but 15 for organs, including the party and the masses, organizations, publicity, civil affairs, industry, comprehensive management office, family planning office, document archive room and urban construction office. The large number of institutions does not mean that villages and towns have relatively complete service functions. After the "vertical" management of forestry, industry and commerce, finance and taxation, justice, public security and land, the functions of township governments are incomplete, which brings many inconveniences to people's production and life. At the same time, as the first-level grass-roots government, villages and towns have lost some service functions, and the masses can't do anything, which also affects the prestige of township party committees and governments to a certain extent, which is not conducive to strengthening and consolidating grass-roots political power.

3. Miscellaneous personnel and low overall quality.

Take Bihu Town, Liandu as an example, its staff includes cadres from six offices, namely, the General Office of Party and Government, the Agricultural Office, the Industrial Office, the Party-mass Office, the Family Planning Office and the Urban Construction Office, staff from various institutions, and judicial, police stations and industrial and commercial administrative units stationed by district departments. Among them, in its institutions, it is divided into nine institutions, such as comprehensive agricultural service stations, cultural stations, radio and television stations, family planning service stations, forestry stations, water pipe stations and health centers stationed by district departments, and land management offices and urban construction planning offices managed vertically by municipal departments. In terms of identity, it can be divided into civil servants, recruiting cadres, regular workers and contract workers. On the source of personnel funds, it can be divided into full appropriation, fixed subsidy (2000 yuan/year), balance allocation, self-supporting and so on, with different salary standards. Due to the large number of personnel and different sources, the overall quality is not very high. Specifically, first, the cultural quality is uneven. The "seven technicians" in villages and towns are mainly cadres recruited from rural areas in the past, and their relative cultural quality is low. For example, among the 28 cadres compiled by Bihu Town Agricultural Technology Station, there are 6 with junior high school education or below; Second, the business level is uneven. In particular, the problems of outdated knowledge and single skills of agricultural technicians are quite prominent. Often, those in agricultural stations don't understand agricultural economics, while those in agricultural stations don't understand agricultural machinery. Moreover, in some places, farmers have long stopped raising silkworms, but there are still silkworm farmers who still get financial wages, which is more prominent. Third, the sense of responsibility is uneven. At present, there are some non-civil servants in township staff, which are quite different from civil servants in terms of wages and benefits, so they are not very active in cooperating with the government center.

4. Weak financial resources and poor control ability.

Due to the low level of urbanization in our city, the dual economic structure between urban and rural areas is obvious. Taking Liandu as an example, the local tax revenue of 1999 15 1.7 million yuan, of which the urban area139.63 million yuan, accounting for 92% of the local tax revenue, while the local tax revenue of the other 20 towns and villages was12.07 million yuan, accounting for only the local area. At the same time, with the vertical management of land, forestry, public security and other departments, the extra-budgetary income has dropped sharply, while the content that cities and towns need to spend money has been increasing, and the financial expenditure has increased. Township finance often makes ends meet, and the deficit is heavy. In 2000, the township fiscal revenues of Songyang and Longquan were15.542 million yuan and10.240 million yuan, respectively, but the fiscal expenditures reached 32.245 million yuan and 385 1000 yuan. Except Yunfeng and Wuxi, all the other 13 townships in Yunhe County had fiscal deficits last year. Township financial difficulties, the government's ability to regulate funds weakened, and some things that should be done could not be done because of lack of funds, which indirectly weakened the government's administrative and service functions, which was not conducive to the stability of township cadres and the improvement of government prestige.

(2) Problems arising from the mechanism.

If the system is not smooth, it will inevitably lead to mechanism failure. The relationship between town and departments, between town and county (city, district) departments, and between town and its affiliated institutions involves the smooth development of specific work and the distribution of interest relations, which is complicated. If these relations are not well sorted out, it will inevitably directly affect the improvement of work efficiency and the normal operation of institutions. These problems are mainly manifested in the following aspects:

1, separation of authority and power. First, what should be done can't be done, and there is a phenomenon of "absence". As a first-level government, villages and towns should have relatively perfect functions to facilitate the masses to handle affairs. However, at present, the functions of township governments are incomplete, and the government's regulation and coordination of these departments are weakening. However, the services needed by the masses have not been met, because towns and villages have no authority in this regard. Second, things that should not be done are stubbornly done, and there is an "offside" phenomenon. Originally, it should be the work of the tax authorities to collect agricultural taxes according to their duties. Generally speaking, the staff of township organs have no power to collect taxes. However, under the current circumstances, it is difficult and costly to collect agricultural taxes. Therefore, the county (city, district) government implements the assessment of agricultural tax collection in towns and villages. If the collection index cannot be completed at one time, the insufficient part must be made up by the township finance. To this end, towns and villages use a lot of manpower and material resources to collect taxes every year. Because of the strong policy of tax work, farmers have different understandings of it. If we don't pay attention to the methods, it will easily lead to tension between cadres and masses.

2. Human rights and administrative power are separated. Whether it is an institution affiliated to a township or an administrative unit stationed in a township, their personnel are managed by the county (city, district) department, their wages are paid by the finance, and their work places and clients are all in the township. The duality of this relationship eventually led to the embarrassing situation of "seeing without care" and "managing without seeing". Especially for some police stations, towns and villages have the obligation to undertake the work, and have no personnel management right, such as the annual comprehensive assessment of social security. The main body of responsibility lies in towns and villages, and towns have no right to ask about the personnel and transfer of police stations and judicial offices, let alone the personnel management right. Human rights and administrative power can not be well unified, cadre management lacks effective restriction and incentive mechanism, and the quality of staff work depends entirely on personal quality, which is very arbitrary.

3. Financial power and administrative power are separated. As a first-level government, one has to eat and the other has to build. At present, most counties (cities, districts) in our city are responsible for township finance. In addition to the basic salary and office expenses, the subsidies, conference fees and business expenses of township cadres shall be borne by the township. In addition, all kinds of public infrastructure, cultural health, civil welfare and other funds that need to be invested often need to be raised by towns themselves. Due to the speed and quality of economic development, most towns and villages in our city are short of funds, and even have heavy deficits and run in debt. In addition, agricultural infrastructure construction funds are often cut by county (city, district) finance or superior departments and handed over to departments for management. In order to get this part of the funds as much as possible, the township has done unnecessary financial and human resources. Despite this, some departments still intercept special subsidy funds without authorization, and the masses have great opinions on this.

Two, suggestions for the reform of township institutions in our city

According to the reality of our city, the focus of the current township government is to speed up the pace of rural urbanization, accelerate population and industrial agglomeration, promote the rational flow of talents, technology, capital and other factors, change the dual economic structure of urban and rural areas, and accelerate the pace of rural industrialization and modernization. According to this goal, we believe that the next step in the reform of township institutions should be five combinations:

(1) combine the reform of township institutions with the adjustment of administrative divisions. Perfecting the functions of township government, streamlining institutions and reducing the pressure of financial support are the basic goals of township institutional reform. To solve this contradiction, the reform of township institutions must be combined with the adjustment of township divisions. Yiwu, our province, combines the adjustment of administrative divisions with the reform of township institutions, adopts the practice of removing towns from urban areas and merging towns from rural areas, and adjusts the original 2 1 town into 8 towns and 5 streets, forming a pattern of "one central city, three sub-centers and five characteristic towns" in the form of urban development, accelerating the pace of building a modern commercial city. Therefore, when adjusting the administrative divisions of villages and towns, it must be connected with the planning objectives of Lishui central city and the objectives of developing regional economy. First of all, we should expand the development space of central cities. On the basis of withdrawing from the town and setting up an office, the urban space will be expanded to Fuling and Liancheng under the premise of mature conditions, laying the foundation for building a medium-sized city with a certain population scale. Secondly, focus on the development of Chengguan towns in other eight counties and cities, and enhance their driving role in county economy. For example, Yunhe County merged Wuxi Township into Yunhe Town, which is an important step after Yunhe implemented the strategy of "small county and big city". On the one hand, it is conducive to the expansion of cloud and wooden toy industry space and the formation of scale; On the other hand, it has expanded the economic scale and land use scale of Yunhe Town, which is conducive to unified planning, construction and management, improving the enjoyment of infrastructure and upgrading the city's taste. Third, we should expand the scale of central towns. For Bihu, Huzhen, Wenxi, Gushi and other towns with rapid economic development, convenient transportation and a certain industrial base, the nearby towns can be merged and developed in contiguous areas to enhance their agglomeration and rational allocation of factors. Liandu canceled the joint township and merged into Bihu Town. The population of Bihu Town increased from 39,700 to 46,000, and the area expanded from 83.6 square kilometers to 1.333.53 square kilometers. The radiation radius is obviously enlarged, which is conducive to giving play to the leading role of central towns in regional economy. Of course, the adjustment of township zoning should be combined with its industrial characteristics, with the cultivation and support of leading industries. From the perspective of industrial agglomeration, it is necessary to adjust measures to local conditions and give classified guidance so that small towns can truly become the "development poles" of regional economy.

After the expansion of the township scale, in order to facilitate township management and reduce village expenditure, administrative villages can also be merged when conditions are ripe. At present, there are 3666 administrative villages in our city, and the average population of each administrative village is only 676. Because the secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas of our city are underdeveloped, the village-level collective economy itself is relatively weak, even an "empty shell village". There are too many administrative villages, and the number of village cadres increases accordingly. The subsidy for village cadres' delay in work is not a small expense. Therefore, with the improvement of traffic, communication and production conditions, smaller administrative villages can be merged appropriately.

(2) combine the reform of township institutions with the transformation of township government functions. Under the condition of market economy, the government should not interfere too much in microeconomic activities, but should actually transform its functions into providing public services, strengthening social management and promoting economic development. Where the market mechanism can solve it, the government will no longer intervene; What civil society can afford is no longer distributed by the government. It is necessary to thoroughly reform the examination and approval system of township governments, reduce examination and approval links and improve work efficiency. At present, towns and villages in our city have generally set up "convenience windows", so we should give full play to their service functions and really do things for the people. At the same time, we should clear our minds and really transfer what the government can't and can't do well to enterprises, markets and social intermediary organizations. The wooden toy industry in Yunhe Town, Yunhe County is its pillar industry. Enterprises are in urgent need of export customs declaration, commodity inspection, new product development and design, financial agency and other services. However, it is impossible for the town government to manage these internal businesses. How to find the best combination of enterprise demand and town government service function? To this end, the town government supports relevant professionals to set up Yunhe Town Enterprise Service Center, and provides professional and fast services for enterprises in the form of paid services in accordance with the laws of market economy, greatly reducing the management cost of enterprises. Social intermediary organizations like this can not only serve as a bridge and link between the government and enterprises and society, but also undertake some management tasks and work for the government, and also provide new jobs and opportunities for government personnel to play their special skills, which is worth encouraging and developing vigorously.

(3) It is necessary to combine the reform of township institutions with the rationalization of segmentation. Only when the rights and responsibilities are consistent can we straighten out the relationship, rationally divide the rights and responsibilities, straighten out the compartmentalized relationship, clarify the responsibilities and establish an effective incentive mechanism. According to the requirements of the provincial party Committee, "in addition to the public security police stations, industrial and commercial administrative offices, tax offices and other institutions that have been set up in towns and villages, the institutions of other county-level government departments stationed in towns and villages should be decentralized in principle, and the system of compartmentalization and compartmentalization management should be implemented to overcome multi-head management"; Used in industry and commerce, public security, courts, etc. , closely related to the goods business, with strong professional and law enforcement functions, under the condition of maintaining the original system, dual leadership and goods management system should be implemented. However, in the appointment of cadres above the deputy department level, it is best to seek the opinions of local party committees, and the annual assessment should also integrate the assessment opinions of local party committees; Through discussion and consultation, departments and towns can mobilize the enthusiasm of cadres and deploy and use the original personnel stationed in towns and villages throughout the region; After the departments and institutions stationed in villages and towns are decentralized to villages and towns, all departments should strengthen the guidance, supervision and inspection of their business, constantly improve the professional level of these personnel and better serve the rural economic development.

(4) combine the reform of township institutions with the streamlining of institutions and personnel. In order to achieve the goal of streamlining and high efficiency, it is necessary to re-approve the staffing of personnel and institutions, minimize the arbitrariness of personnel and institutions, and reduce administrative costs.

1, streamlining leadership positions. In line with the principle of "lean and efficient", the number of township leading bodies is strictly controlled, and party and government leaders can cross posts as needed. The secretary of the township party committee may concurrently serve as the head of the township (or the chairman of the township people's congress), the secretary of the party committee may concurrently serve as the discipline inspection secretary, and the propaganda committee member of the Communist Youth League may concurrently serve as a deputy head of the township. Deputy party member, who is in charge of the armed forces and political and legal work, can cross posts. At the same time, appropriately increase the number of non-leadership positions of the chief clerk and the deputy chief clerk.

2. Streamline institutions. According to the needs of economic and social development and the transformation of government functions, township administrative organs can be adjusted into four internal organs: Party and government offices, construction and development offices, social development offices and comprehensive management offices. Institutions stationed in villages and towns by agriculture, health, culture, radio and television, water conservancy and other departments. Decentralized to the township, it can be merged with the institutions affiliated to the township according to the nature and content of the work. Such as health centers and township hospitals; Cultural departments and cultural stations; Water pipe stations and water conservancy associations; Agricultural technology station and agricultural technology extension comprehensive service station. On this basis, culture and radio and television stations will be merged to form township cultural radio and television centers to develop cultural radio and television undertakings with socialized services; Incorporate agriculture-related stations into township agricultural comprehensive service stations and develop agriculture-related services in the form of enterprises. Of course, the merger of these institutions should be based on whether they can survive in the market competition, otherwise it is meaningless to engage in "one size fits all". Where conditions permit, such as Bihu, Gushi and Huzhen, agricultural machinery stations can be separated from township agricultural technology extension comprehensive service stations and enterprise-oriented agricultural machinery service centers can be established. Because in these basins with contiguous arable land, according to the requirements of moderate scale operation of agriculture and refined socialized division of labor of agricultural production, the agricultural machinery service market has broad prospects. From a realistic example, Ye Lirong, a big grain grower in Bihu, used his own agricultural machinery to provide farmers with mechanized rice cutting services (70 yuan per mu) during the busy farming season, which was well received by farmers.

3. streamline personnel. First of all, we can combine the downsizing of township institutions with the implementation of relevant policies by superiors. Channels and policies for the diversion of government personnel can be organized and trained according to Li Wei Office [2006 54 38+0] 13 document "Several Opinions on the Diversion of Reform Personnel in Municipal Organs and Institutions", combined with the actual situation of villages and towns; Retirement from post or early retirement; Measures to encourage government officials to resign from public office and find jobs for themselves have been transferred. According to the requirements of the provincial party Committee, the proportion of personnel in township institutions is not less than 20% in principle. Therefore, first, we should encourage early retirement or early retirement; The second is to dismiss temporary workers; Third, those who fail the examination should be dismissed. Secondly, streamlining personnel can be combined with strengthening the construction of central villages. For qualified administrative villages, the appointment system can be adopted to send township government personnel to the administrative villages as party branch secretaries. On the premise of developing and strengthening the village collective economy, the wages and benefits of dispatched personnel will be gradually transferred from financial allocation to the village collective economy. Third, we can combine downsizing with accelerating agricultural industrialization. Encourage township personnel with technical expertise to participate in or establish business entities in accordance with the market mechanism. After Shaxi Township in Yunhe County was merged into Chengguan Town, the township party committee and government encouraged agricultural technicians to participate in comprehensive agricultural development in the form of technology shares through policy support, which not only brought their expertise into play, but also met the demand for technology in agricultural development, relieved the financial pressure of villages and towns, and achieved the effect of killing two birds with one stone.

(5) combine the reform of township institutions with improving the level of administration according to law. In the reform of township institutions, whether it is the adjustment of administrative divisions or the diversion of government agencies and institutions, it must be strictly implemented in accordance with relevant laws and regulations, and it is not allowed to go its own way. At the same time, it is necessary to improve the operating mechanism of the government and strengthen the procedural, standardized and legal administration. Especially after the agencies with law enforcement power in villages and towns are devolved to the township governments, the township party committees and governments cannot ask these stations with law enforcement power to "be flexible" or obey the subjective intentions of township leaders because of their own work needs; Station staff should also strengthen their study, improve their professional quality, improve the level of law enforcement, and strive to find the best combination between maintaining the fairness and seriousness of the law and cooperating with the work of township party committees and government centers; All departments should strengthen the business guidance and supervision of decentralized township stations, and should not weaken the law enforcement or simply ignore them just because these stations are given to townships.

(Weng Zhihong, Policy Research Office of Municipal Party Committee)

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Development: relevant units directly under the municipal government, county (city, district) committees and county (city, district) people's governments.