Kovtun Y. Optimization of the relationship between public authorities and local governments in the process of decentralization.

The dissertation research is devoted to the solution of the actual task of the science of public administration - substantiation of the tools for optimizing the relationship between public authorities and local governments in the process of decentralization and their practical implementation. Theoretical and methodological analysis of the concept of optimization in political and managerial discourse, revealed the essence of optimization in the activities of public authorities as a form of coordinated interaction of government agencies, which aims to ensure the effectiveness of relevant organizational functions. It is proved that due to the optimization role there is a certain cyclical development of the organizational structure and accelerates its functional modernization. And this in turn leads to organizational and functional stability of the public administration system. The state and features of scientific research on the problems of optimizing the relationship between public authorities and local governments in the context of decentralization of power in Ukraine are revealed. It is established that the conceptualization of this issue in the professional literature is from the standpoint of scientific search for optimal for Ukrainian realities model of territorial organization of public power, which is conducted in several contexts: theoretical and methodological justification of decentralization processes and analysis of their optimal models; analysis of foreign experience in the transformation of the optimal model of relations between public authorities at the local level on the basis of decentralization of power; assessments of domestic experience in optimizing the executive branch in the implementation of administrative reforms; modeling the reform of local self-government and the reform of the administrative-territorial system. The dissertation also studies the specifics of the Ukrainian experience of formation and reform of the political and administrative system at the regional level. Perspective directions of optimization of relations between state authorities and local self-government bodies have been identified and substantiated, taking into account the ongoing processes of decentralization of power in the Ukrainian state. The following are considered as such: improvement of the institutional basis for decentralization of power of public authorities; strengthening the role of local governments in order to increase their capacity. Establishment of own executive committees of regional and district councils with simultaneous granting of real powers to local self-government bodies; - making appropriate amendments to the laws of Ukraine "On local self-government in Ukraine" and "On local state administrations"; - simultaneous introduction of the local government budget with the budgets of the region and district. The latter should be part of the State Budget. The formation of local government budgets should be carried out at the expense of its own revenue base, the direction of budget policy should be the decentralization of national taxes and increase the share of local taxes in local budgets. The expediency of adopting a separate, basic law "On Delegation of Certain Powers of Executive Bodies to Local Self-Government Bodies" has been substantiated. Such a law should determine the purpose, conditions, methods and procedure for delegating certain powers to the authorities; outline the subject of delegation and the list of those powers that are not subject to delegation to local governments; to consolidate the system of powers delegated by law; subjective composition; the terms for which the powers are delegated, to establish the procedure for the transfer of financial and material resources for the exercise of delegated powers; forms of state control; responsibility for improper performance of delegated powers, improper material and financial support of powers, etc. It is proved that among the directions of improving the legal basis for the exercise of delegated powers it is necessary to single out the introduction of the practice of concluding administrative agreements when applying the contractual method of delegation of powers. It is established that the agreement has acquired all the features of a special universal means of management. In an administrative contract, the state executive body acts as the bearer of state power, through which it implements its inherent administrative functions, and the contract therefore has features that indicate the impossibility of classifying it as a customary civil contract. The scope of the administrative agreement is considered in relation to the scope of the act of government and the scope of public administration in general. Variants of the relationship between the contract and the administrative act, which are equal as a means of exercising state executive power, are analyzed in detail.