Municipality Budget 2001 Maintains Low Property Taxes, Boosts Waste Revenue
Review of the 2001 Financial Maneuver
Accounts and economic balances remain a puzzle for laypeople. But what emerges clearly from the financial maneuver, implemented by the Municipality to ensure the economic-financial balance of the current part of the forecast budget for 2001, is that no adjustments are planned to the municipal property tax or IRPEF surcharges.
Therefore, citizens are quite satisfied on this front, especially considering that the Ici rate for the primary residence is among the lowest in the province: 4.5 per thousand with a deduction of three hundred thousand lire.
Perceived satisfaction, apparently, also extends to the majority administrators (who voted against the budget were the Ulivo councillors, while those of the Lega Nord Lega Veneta abstained), because, despite maintaining unchanged rates, the Ici revenue is projected at 4,850 million lire. This represents an increase of 350 million compared to last year, thanks to the recovery of evasion.
Details on the Budget and Municipal Services
Another distinctive feature of the budget: the majority’s intention, not shared by the Ulivo group which voted against, while the Lega group abstained, to cover the entire cost of waste collection and disposal services (2,200 million lire) with the service revenues.
The coverage percentage of the service in 1999 was around 85 percent, while the financial plan prepared for 2001 aims for 100 percent, considering that the current contract expires in June and, once the terms of the new contract are known, reworking will be necessary.
Costs and Projections for the Collection Service
The elimination of the deficit leads to increased costs for waste collection, transportation, and disposal, to be divided according to the ‘polluter pays’ principle. “With the new contract,” clarified Budget Assessor Renzo Franceschini, “differentiated collection will be introduced, and users will be divided into domestic and non-domestic, with the latter further classified into 30 categories based on activities conducted: contributing 1,400 million lire in revenue, while households contribute around 600 million.”
The other major expected revenues for the current part of the budget are: 440 million for occupation of public spaces and areas; 250 million for administrative fines and violations of the traffic code; 870 million from water collection and purification (operational costs 1,100 million); 900 million from water supply and 800 million from municipal campsite revenues, against operating expenses of 350 million.
Turning to current expenses, 3,100 million lire (25 percent of current expenses) concern personnel costs; 6,200 million (50 percent) for purchasing goods, service provisions, and third-party asset utilization; 2,150 million (17.2 percent) for transfers, and 1,350 million for amortization of loans, with a transfer from the State of 500 million from the investment development fund.
An estimated budget, with a financial balance around 25.5 billion lire, which received the favorable opinion of the Board of Auditors. The auditors suggested the Municipality proceed to update property inventories and to establish “procedures to ensure that taxpayers fulfill their tax obligations in the most convenient and least costly ways.”