County authority accounts, 2014

From 2014, the reimbursement of value added tax (VAT) accumulated in the capital accounts is excluded from the operational accounts and included in the capital accounts. This adjustment has caused a variation in the gross operating revenues, gross and net operating surplus in the operational accounts, and contribution, reimbursement and property sale revenues in the capital accounts. In 2014, VAT revenues acquired in the capital accounts excluding Oslo amounted to NOK 2.1 billion. This resulted in a revenue reduction in the operational accounts of NOK 2.1 billion from 2013 to 2014, while the revenues in the capital accounts increased by a similar amount.

Improvement in the operational results

The gross operating revenues for the county authorities’ consolidated accounts amounted to NOK 68.9 billion in 2014 compared to NOK 68.3 billion in 2013. Adjusted for the NOK 2.1 billion of VAT revenues incurred in capital accounts, the actual increase in gross revenues amounted to NOK 2.7 billion compared to the previous year.

Gross operating expenditure totalled NOK 67.9 billion in 2014 compared to NOK 65.2 billion in 2013; an increase of 4.1 per cent.

This resulted in a decrease in the gross operating surplus as a percentage of gross operating revenues from 4.5 per cent in 2013 to 1.4 per cent in 2014. Adjusted for the VAT incurred in capital accounts, the gross operating surplus increased by NOK 28 million; a slight increase of about 0.9 per cent from 2013 to 2014.

Net operating surplus amounted to NOK 2.1 billion in 2014 compared to NOK 4 billion in 2013. Adjusted for the VAT incurred in capital accounts, the net operating surplus in 2014 amounted to NOK 4.3 billion. The actual increase in net operating surplus from 2013 to 2014 amounted to NOK 233 million. The net operating surplus as a percentage of gross operating revenues was 6 per cent in 2014. This is a slight increase compared to the previous year.

Transport affairs sector prioritises

Upper secondary education incurs the highest costs in the county authorities’ consolidated service areas. The net operating expenditure for upper secondary schools amounted to 52.8 per cent of gross operating expenditure in 2014. There were only slight changes for the other public services provided compared to the previous year, apart from transportation affairs, where net operating expenditure increased from 31.7 per cent in 2013 to 32.7 per cent in 2014. The net operating expenditure per capita for transport affairs was NOK 3 776 in 2014 compared to NOK 3 548 in 2013.

Gross investment expenditure for transport affairs increased from NOK 10 016 million in 2013 to NOK 10 176 in 2014; an increase of NOK 160 million. During the period 2009 to 2014, the transport affair investments increased by NOK 8.4 billion, and constituted about 70 per cent of the total investment expenditure in 2014. The increase is a result of the administrational reforms that were implemented in 2010. The reforms gave the county authorities’ consolidated entities partial responsibility for the national transport affairs.

The variation in the dental service figures varied due to the varied age groups and changes in the check-up routines.

Increase in unrestricted revenues

Government subsidies and income taxes are revenues that county authorities’ consolidated entities can use freely under certain restrictions in laws and regulations. In 2014, unrestricted revenues amounted to about NOK 52.4 billion, which was an increase of about NOK 2.2 billion compared to the previous year.

Government subsidies are the largest source of income for the county authorities’ consolidated entities, and in 2014 they amounted to 41 per cent of the adjusted gross operating revenues and constituted about NOK 29 billion, compared to NOK 27.4 billion in 2013.

Income and capital taxes accounted for 35 per cent of adjusted gross operating revenues and amounted to NOK 23.5 billion in 2014; an increase of about NOK 607 million from the previous year. The other revenue sources have been more or less the same compared to the previous year.

Investments financed by long-term loans

The gross investment expenditure has been relatively stable from 2013 to 2014, amounting to NOK 14.6 billion in 2014.

Revenues from contributions, reimbursements and property sales amounted to about NOK 6.7 billion in 2014 compared to NOK 4.5 billion the previous year. Adjusted for the VAT incurred in capital accounts, there was an actual decrease of NOK 17 million compared to the previous year.

The long-term debts excluding pension obligations increased by about 10 per cent from the year 2013 to 2014. In 2014, the long-term debt was NOK 49.5 billion compared to NOK 45 billion in 2013.

In 2014, the deficit before loans and allocations decreased slightly from 2013 to 2014, and amounted to just over NOK 3.7 billion, compared to almost NOK 4 billion in 2013.