Regions are led by directly elected councils ('regionsråd); they consist of 41 members each. The head of the council is the regional council chairman (regionsrådsformand), who is elected by the council.[3] Elections are held simultaneously with municipal elections every four years. The latest Danish local elections were held on 19 November 2013.
Unlike the former counties, regions are not entitled to levy their own taxes. Thus, the present regions rely entirely on central state funding (around 70%) and funding coming from the municipalities (around 30%). A central government "health contribution" tax (sundhedsbidrag) at 8.00% on the preliminary and final income statement forms has replaced the county tax (amtsskat).
90% of the budgets of the regions are allocated to the national health service. Health issues have remained the primary hot issue in regional politics, especially because grand changes of Denmark's hospital layout were announced immediately after the municipal reform.