From the 2026 budget audit
An administrative body that exists to distribute a fund being wound down
The regional development councils distribute the Fund's allocation decisions; as that fund phases out, the 830 millió Ft council overhead phases out alongside it.
Roughly 207 Ft per taxpayer per year — 830 millió Ft total, funding the administrative layer that runs a discretionary fund whose own rationale is being wound down.
What you see — and what you don't
The seen: the regional development councils' offices and staff, funded at 830 millió Ft per year. The unseen: the taxpayer paying for the administration of a discretionary allocation process whose overhead persists even as the function it administers is discontinued.
Objection
"But you need some form of regional coordination body even after the development fund closes — the councils serve other purposes."
Answer
The councils' specific mandate is to administer capital allocation decisions under the Regional Development Fund. As the fund's allocation rounds cease over four years, the function that requires council staff disappears. Any genuine regional coordination need is served by the municipalities that hold the local information.
Share if you think administrative overhead should track the functions it serves — not outlive them.
The analyst's verdict
Operating Support for Development Councils
Rationale
This line funds the operating costs of the regional development councils — the bodies that administer the regional allocation decisions the Területfejlesztési Alap funds. The councils exist to operate a discretionary allocation function; once that function is wound down, the bodies that operate it have no enduring rationale. The honest classification is phase-out parallel to the underlying activity: as the Területfejlesztési Alap's allocation rounds cease over four years, the councils' operating support tracks the same glide to zero. Maintaining the administrative apparatus of a function that is being discontinued would be paying for the second-best substitute for a market discipline the reform is restoring.
Transition mechanism
Linear phase-out over 4 years, tracking the Területfejlesztési Alap wind-down. The councils' staff hold employment contracts; the four-year horizon gives a realistic transition window, and where staff are on permanent contracts the final-year contraction is handled with severance appropriate to the headcount.
Affected groups
The development councils' administrative staff; the four-year horizon provides a transition window. Member regions lose a coordinating body whose function the reform devolves.
Free Society Institute
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