Encyklopedia Administracji Publicznej MW Pivot Skin

PUBLIC TASKS – tasks (duties) legally imposed on public authority bodies to satisfy collective needs or pursue the public interest. P.t. in this approach are a special type of activities that public entities are required to implement. A list of p.t. constitutes a specific obligation of the authorities to the society. The immanent feature of p.t. is that the expenses incurred on them come from public funds collected in the public finance sector according to the appropriate rules of social solidarity. The fact that p.t. are tasks carried out by public entities (the state, local government units or international organisations), implies the necessity to regulate them in normative acts. This is reflected in the competence acts of relevant public bodies and institutions. The source of p.t. is not so much the existence of an objective category of public goods, but the decision of the legislator as a consequence of political decisions. The division of p.t. among the state and local government bodies is regulated by the → principle of subsidiarity (they should be implemented at the lowest level of authority and public administration through the bodies closest to the citizens). Characteristics of p.t. include: their obligatory implementation by the designated bodies, the legal basis for their implementation, satisfying collective needs or public interest (determined by the level of economic and civilizational development of the country and the prevailing social doctrine) and public funding. One can mention six basic p.t.: ensuring the supply of public goods; ensuring a fair distribution of income; ensuring conditions for a sustainable and stable macroeconomic development of the economy; ensuring the proper functioning of the market mechanism; influencing the production of private goods in order to obtain socially desirable supply; management of the state’s property and finances [ T. Strąk ].

Literatura: T. Lubińska, Budżet a finanse publiczne, Warszawa 2010 ■ E. Malinowska-Misiąg, W. Misiąg, Finanse publiczne w Polsce, Warszawa – Rzeszów 2007 ■ E. Ura, Prawo administracyjne, Warszawa 2015.