The article is aimed at presenting the authorities’ activity when applying for the EU funds and the influence of gained aid on a local development. The Szamocin Commune is the subject of research. The authorities’ activity is the commune’s strength. Despite their mediocre financial situation, approximately 1/4 of their spending is on investments. The commune’s weaknesses include mainly poor quality of the roads in the commune and few sanitary sewage systems. In order to improve the level of a local development and the quality of the inhabitant’s life, investments in these areas have been realized thanks to gained EU funds for several years now. The commune could carry out more EU projects does not have its own sufficient resources required in case of financial engineering. It is one of the two barriers to absorb the EU funds, except for an inefficient system of funds allocation.