Umea Region

The Umea Region (Swedish: Umeåregionen) is a functional region which consists of six co-operating municipalities in north Sweden; Bjurholm, Nordmaling, Robertsfors, Umeå, Vindeln and Vännäs. The geographical area has over 140 000 inhabitants. The Umea Region does not take official decisions about benefits, allowances, invalid vehicle services and similar tasks, but generates more money to urgent purposes through scale economy depending on joint distribution of service, personal union, mutual buy-ins, etc.

History

In 1993 the six municipalities made a mutual agreement, approved by the six municipal councils, saying that:

* Positive development for one municipality is a positive development for all six municipalities
* Establishment of new companies and investments on one municipality should be welcomed by all without conflicts
* Job opportunities should be spread throughout the Umea Region
* Increased freedom of choice and better service to inhabitants
* Joint development strategies

The goals and policies for the organisation were:

* Better efficiency in the public sector through co-ordination and scale economy
* Co-operation for development of all six municipalities
* The organization must be based upon democratic principals

Today the tourism industry is the most well-developed joint project in the Umea Region, because the six municipalities together have the sea with beaches and islands, mountains with slalom slopes, forests with wild animals (elk, bear, catamount, wolf, beaver, reindeer), many lakes, rivers and rivulets for canoe-trips and fishing, ruins and heritage buildings, and the quite large city of Umeå with shopping, entertainments, restaurants with food from the cuisines of the world and night life.

OrganizationThe council of the region meet four times a year and consists of the local government commissioners (politicians). They set up the strategic plans of the Umea Region. The head officers of the municipalities are the operative steering committee and meet once a month. There are 22 committees, in which representatives from every municipality by activity sit.

The committees are established in the following operating ranges:

* Culture
* Library
* Business
* Education
* Technique
* Planning
* Tourism
* Staff
* IT
* Care of the aged and the disabled
* Environment
* Communications
* Recreations
* Procurement
* Gender
* Waste/mud
* Information

The six municipalities have mutual EU-projects: UME&Co - development of the tourism sector, City and County - local development, Library 2007 - increased access to the libraries, joint library ticket, The Grow Alliance/The train road Botniabanan as a growth factor - growth project within the region

FinancingThe Umea Region is financed by a fixed fee and a variable fee based on the number of inhabitants in the municipality. The annual budget is 1 500 000 SEK.

Today

The co-operation is now firmly established, and there is an exchange of knowledge and experience between politicians and public officials. The following projects have been realized:

* Mutual salary system
* Mutual leadership within the rescue service
* Mutual organization of tourism
* Mutual planning of upper secondary schools
* Mutual switchboard
* Mutual IT-platform
* Mutual library

External links

* The Umea Region [http://www.umearegionen.se/]
* Official tourist site for Umea [http://www.umearegionen.se/umeaturistbyra/umeatouristoffice.4.d2f5f1101a6b3e70c800021360.html]