Does 「決めることにしています」 = 「決めます」?


In [this NHK News
Easy](https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/k10014014291000/k10014014291000.html)
article, the final sentence says:

豊明市は職員たちに意見を聞いて、この働き方をこれからも続けるか決めることにしています。

After asking a native, a good translation for the second phrase would
apparently be "[Toyoake City] will decide whether to continue this way of
working."

But what I'm curious about, is that the ことにする pattern already includes a
meaning of "decide to". So, does 「決めることにしています」 mean "has decided to decide"?
The English sentence simply uses future tense, so how would just using 「決めます」
change the meaning?




The difference is that ことにしています makes it explicit that the decision will take
place (substantially) _in future_. I suppose it is similar between _to decide
to decide_ and _to decide_ if the former is not idiomatic in English.

For the sentence

  * ...決めることにしています

means _We are planning to decide_ , implying that there's still some time for
the decision.

  * ...決めます

would mean, in this context, practically the same, but it may sound _we take
the questionnaire now (or in the near future) and make a decision_.

* * *

For comparison

  * 試着をしてから買うかどうか決めることにしています
  * 試着をしてから買うかどうか決めます

When you are talking to a shop clerk, normally the latter is used. The former
would sound 'I make it a rule that I buy clothes/shoes after trying them'.
This should be because 試着 does not usually take long, so that it can't mean
'I've decided to decide whether to buy it or not (say) in 10 days after
trial'. In other words, in case of trying clothes, the final decision
shouldn't be too far and using ことにしています would sound a bit odd to talk about a
particular instance of decision.




The difference is that ことにしています makes it explicit that the decision will take
place (substantially) _in future_. I suppose it is similar between _to decide
to decide_ and _to decide_ if the former is not idiomatic in English.

For the sentence

  * ...決めることにしています

means _We are planning to decide_ , implying that there's still some time for
the decision.

  * ...決めます

would mean, in this context, practically the same, but it may sound _we take
the questionnaire now (or in the near future) and make a decision_.

* * *

For comparison

  * 試着をしてから買うかどうか決めることにしています
  * 試着をしてから買うかどうか決めます

When you are talking to a shop clerk, normally the latter is used. The former
would sound 'I make it a rule that I buy clothes/shoes after trying them'.
This should be because 試着 does not usually take long, so that it can't mean
'I've decided to decide whether to buy it or not (say) in 10 days after
trial'. In other words, in case of trying clothes, the final decision
shouldn't be too far and using ことにしています would sound a bit odd to talk about a
particular instance of decision.

