The aim of this article is to measure the effectiveness of public administration by comparing long-term budget expenditures with goals specified in strategic documents of four cities from less developed regions in Czechia. The content analysis of strategic doc-uments of these cities was carried out over the past 10 years.
Next, the budget expenditure during the 2002-2017 period was analyzed and compared with goals specified in strategic plans of these cities. The results show the under-funding of the majority of the planned development goals.