Mergers of rural municipalities and services

Abstract

This study investigates differences in satisfaction between residents of purely rural and mixed municipalities. A mixed municipality comprises of both rural and urban residential areas. Theoretically, more populous municipalities provide better services, but many rural residents express concerns that their area might become marginalised within an amalgamated municipality. Therefore, it is important to examine if rural communities benefit from amalgamation or become more deprived in centre-periphery comparisons. Regression analyses were performed on data from surveys conducted in 2016, 2017, and 2020. Findings revealed that rural residents of mixed municipalities and residents of purely rural municipalities reported similar satisfaction. However, greater variance in the responses of residents in purely rural municipalities indicated more internal variability. When specific aspects of municipal services were examined, a clear pattern emerged: Residents of purely rural municipalities were significantly less satisfied with planning, social services, opportuni[1]ties for sports and leisure, and the quality of youth services. Residents of purely rural municipalities were generally more satisfied with their municipal services if they did not operate their own schools, while rural municipalities that did, showed greater dissatisfaction among residents with various other municipal services. It is important that these results are presented to residents of purely rural municipalities.