As can be seen from Table 2, the share of public cultural expenditure by level of government has not changed significantly since 2000. From 1999-2010, the share of expenditure of the Ministry of Culture has increased, but since 2011 it shows a fall in the percentage of funding. The funding by municipalities and towns shows an increase in the last couple of years, while the allocation of the City of Zagreb stagnated in the last two years (see Table 2).
Table 2: Public cultural expenditure by level of government, in %, 1999-2000 and 2009-2014
| Year | 1999 | 2000 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ministry of Culture | 38 | 43 | 42 | 43 | 41 | 37 | 38 | 35 |
| Towns | 30 | 27 | 25 | 28 | 29 | 32 | 32 | 34 |
| City of Zagreb | 24 | 22 | 26 | 22 | 23 | 22 | 22 | 23 |
| Counties | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Municipalities | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 |
| Total | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
Source: Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia.
Figure: Funds for culture at local budget level, 2014
Table 2 and Figure show that the City of Zagreb play an important role in financing of culture in Croatia. Nevertheless, this funding has been decreasing in the last five years. The planned public expenditure of the Department of Education, Culture and Sports in the City of Zagreb for 2016 shows a further drop – according to planned budget it amounts to 445 153 000 HRK (approx. 59 353 733 EUR) which is a further decline from 2014 when it was 460 504 900 HRK (approx. 61 400 000 EUR) while in the year 2013 it was 467 098 300 HRK (approx. 62 279 773 EUR). The funding is divided according to two main streams – the programme of public needs in culture (institutions) and the programme of independent productions (NGOs, associations and other institutions) (Source: City of Zagreb, 2009, 2010, 2012). The biggest cuts for 2012 were made in the programme of independent productions – the funding dropped from 88 075 000 HRK (2009) to 64 660 000 HRK (2010) to 55 524 100 HRK (financial plan for 2012), in 2014 there was an increase in funding to 55 758 000 HRK (7 434 400 EUR), while in the planned budget for 2016 the drop is significant – 49 380 000 HRK (approx.6 584 000EUR).
For a comparison, in the City of Split, which is the second largest city in the country, the planned expenditure for Department for Culture, Arts and the Old City in 2016 amounts to 117 997 000 HRK which is a significant increase from 2015 when it was 87 704 000 HRK and 2014 when it was 87 803 000 HRK. In the City of Rijeka, the third biggest city in Croatia, the planned budget of the City Department for Culture in 2016 is 116 227 700 HRK which is an increase in comparison to 2014 when it amounted to 86 040 900 HRK. As well as the year 2012 when it was 78 863 100 HRK, this amounted to 9.45% of the proposed city budget for that year and shows a strategic orientation towards culture.
When looking at the share of the budget for culture in the local budget, according to the Statistical Yearbook 2015, in 2014, the counties with the highest budget for culture were Dubrovnik-Neretva county (8,97%), Šibenik- Knin county (8,73%) and Primorsko-goranska county (6,89%).
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