Municipalities of Kosovo - Powers of Municipalities

Powers of Municipalities

All municipalities have the following competences:

a. Local economic development;
b. Urban and rural planning;
c. Land use and development;
d. implementation of building regulations and building control standards;
e. Local environmental protection;
f. Provision and maintenance of public services and utilities, including water supply, sewers and drains, sewage treatment, waste management, local roads, local transport and local heating schemes;
g. Local emergency response;
h. Provision of public pre-primary, primary and secondary education, including registration and licensing of educational institutions, recruitment, payment of salaries and training of education instructors and administrators;
i. Provision of public primary health care:
j. Provision of family and other social welfare services, such as care for the vulnerable, foster care, child care, elderly care, including registration and licensing of these care centres, recruitment, payment of salaries and training of social welfare professionals;
k. Public housing;
1. Public health;
m. Licensing of local services and facilities, including those related to entertainment, cultural and leisure activities, food, lodging, markets, street vendors, local public transportation and taxis;
n. Naming of roads, streets and other public places;
o. Provision and maintenance of public parks and spaces;
p. Tourism;
q. Cultural and leisure activities;
r. Any matter which is not explicitly excluded from their competence nor assigned to other authorities.

In addition, all municipalities with Serb majorities have additional powers over the appointment of local police commanders, religious and cultural heritage sites within their boundaries; some of them have competences over universities and secondary health which in non-Serb-majority municipalities are a matter for central government (and, through the right of association of municipalities, even those Serb-majority municipalities which are not specifically given these powers may exercise them in association with those that do).