The city council on Wednesday 24 April approved the 2023 final budget. The measure obtained 21 vfavorable notes (Brothers of Italy, Avanti Pistoia for Ale Tomasi Mayor, Centrists Forza Italia, Amo Pistoia and Lega), 9 contrari (Democratic Party, Pistoia Progressive Ecologist and Civic Reformists) and no abstentions.
The maneuver was presented by the municipal budget councilor.
6.5 million available surplus. «We are also recording a very positive result for this year in the 2023-2025 final balance sheet – underlined the councilor – with 6.5 million available surplus and approximately 393,000 euros of allocated surplus, a figure that will allow us for yet another year to finance part of the forecasts of the 2024-2026 Investment Plan, approved by the city council, with our own resources”.
The Municipality pays suppliers quickly. «We have payment times for commercial debts that make us an excellence – highlighted the budget councilor – thanks to the punctual work of the offices and the accounting service which is ready to settle invoices once they are actually validated by the individual services» .
73,053,000 euros of debt, the lowest since 2008. «I remind everyone that in 2008 a peak was reached in the debt stock of the municipal administration of Pistoia in the sum of 122 million euros – said the budget councilor -, a value which then profoundly affected the budget over the years subsequent ones. On 31 December 2023 it closed with a residual debt of 73,053,000 euros, the lowest figure ever not only since 2008 but also since 2017, despite the increase in investment in public works. In 2017 we closed with a debt of 85,366,000 euros, today we close with over 12 million less than on 31 December 2023, despite the taking out of further mortgages to finance public works. The merit also depends on the renegotiation of the mortgages proposed by the council and approved by the city council during the lockdown in 2020, with deferral of the maturity of a part of the debt with lower amortization costs”.
Balance sheet, the elements of rigidity. «The budget has some critical issues such as some elements of rigidity – explained the councilor -. In fact, energy expenditure, personnel expenditure and expenses for the overall maintenance of the administrative machinery are sometimes independent of political will. I am referring, in particular, to personnel spending, which is destined to grow even independently of the increase in the number of employees. Sometimes it would be necessary to increase hiring, particularly in some sectors, but this is precluded by a complex regulatory framework linked to the ministerial decree of 17 March 2020, which set the maximum hiring limit for entities of our type and size of inhabitants at 27 .60%, which must be respected in the ratio between the current expenditure of the year and the average revenue of the last three years. Unfortunately, the value of the contractual increases must also be included in the calculation of the percentage, which are certainly a positive thing for the employee sector, but represent a cost that the Administration bears based on choices that are made elsewhere. With the next contractual renewal, an increase of 5.78% in personnel costs has already been estimated. Therefore the current regulatory framework does not allow us to make expansive choices in those services that the Administration considers strategic and which would in fact require more hiring”.
Other items related to budget rigidity. «They are represented by energy expenses – said the budget councilor -, even if in reality a minimal ability to maneuver can be carried out on this. We are in fact working on some suggestions regarding the theme of energy communities, with respect to that of the installation of photovoltaic systems, which allow us to maintain greater energy autonomy. The path that the Administration is tackling is that of energy efficiency through which we have as our objective both economic savings and environmental sustainability, as in the case of the new concession for public lighting”.
883,000 euros collected as urbanization charges, none used in current expenditure.
«It is a pillar of this Administration – explained the budget councilor -: since 2017 we have always committed ourselves not to allocate the proceeds from urbanization charges to current expenditure even if permitted by law. The final balance of 2023 confirms this choice, so much so that in the 883,000 euros collected as urbanization charges, none was used in current ordinary maintenance expenditure, but it all flowed into the financing during the year in investment expenditure and part of the surplus intended for investments which amounts to 393,000 euros. We have traced a path that is essentially confirmed year after year.”
The debate in the chamber between the majority and the opposition was long and complex. Speakers included, among others, the PD group and the group leaders of Pistoia Ecologista e Progressista, Fratelli d’Italia, Civici Riformisti and Lega.
«Like last year, the Council still boasts of a surplus of more than 6 million euros – underlined the Democratic Party group -, without however being able to spend the resources available for maintenance and safety of the roads, public green areas and landscaping. hydrogeological. The lack of political coordination between the offices is clear, as they suffer from a lack of staff and cannot organize both extraordinary projects and maintenance. The result is there for all to see: a two-year delay in the drafting of the structural plan which prevents investors and businesses from making plans for our city, spot interventions, chasing tenders and projects without planning, construction sites all started at the same time moment and in the same areas without coordination, lacking communication towards citizens and blocking the entire city for days. Culture is left to private individuals, while other cities see the number of tourists grow thanks to targeted investments. Greater courage is needed in the preventive phase and in the reorganization of the machine: almost 7 million are advanced, but the roads, the greenery and the maintenance of the ditches will have to wait. Yet another sign of inadequacy of this Administration.”
«A budget that once again testifies to the planning and investment capacity of the Administration – underlined the group leader of Fratelli d’Italia -. Another 15 million euros in 2023, figures that will affect the entire territory in the form of infrastructures and services. We have an investment capacity of 155%, 50% more than the capital municipalities close to us. Services increase and current spending decreases, as happens in the family. Major construction works and attention to ordinary maintenance, which we will continue to implement, paying particular attention to the suburbs.”
«The 2023 budget closes with a surplus of 6.5 million – said the group leader of Pistoia Ecologista e Progressive -. It would have been better to have a smaller surplus but to spend all the resources available: such as the 80,000 euros saved on greenery maintenance and the 25,000 not used for the collaboration agreements with the associations. We are not even convinced how the council used the 7 million free surplus it had available in 2023: only 39,000 euros for the care of an area marked by landslides and almost 200,000 to increase the cameras in the centre. No additional resources for road resurfacing and no plans for new renewable energy plants. And the lack of planning is also evident in the PNRR investments: construction sites that start without having thought about parking solutions, with Piazza Giovanni XXIII invaded by cars, missed opportunities for greenery in Piazza San Lorenzo, uncertainty about the future use of the redeveloped spaces” .
«With a surplus of around 6.5 million euros – declared the leader of the League – we feel protected from situations of uncertainty that we have experienced in recent years with the pandemic and the war in Ukraine which forced us to face expenses huge due to the energy crisis. The Authority is healthy and this is confirmed by the timing of payments which places us among the most virtuous Municipalities at a national level. For the seventh consecutive year we have not used urbanization charges for current spending and we have taken out new mortgages to finance public works. It is only the expense for personnel that still gives us some concern due to the cost of contracts. We have triggered virtuous mechanisms and have been able to carry out many beautiful projects aimed at the well-being and a better quality of life of the people of Pistoia. It is the League’s intention to ask to use the available resources for new projects and to intervene daily for maintenance and decoration even in the towns furthest from the historic center.”
«I voted against the 2023 report, i.e. how this Administration worked in the year just ended – highlighted the group leader of Civici e Riformisti -. There are many elements that determined my vote against. One concerns the roads in conditions never seen before, 840 thousand euros could have been invested and it was not done. The exchanger car park in the south will cost 1,100,000 euros more than the financing obtained from RFI because the Municipality was not able to do the work in time. The San Giorgio car park will cost double what the Tuscany Region had financed. Regarding the level of cultural activities in Pistoia, it must be said that it has collapsed frighteningly. Culture is delegated to the Caript Foundation, thank goodness it exists, and over which the Municipality tries to put flags. One light is that of the work carried out by the Health Society, capable of intercepting resources and thinking about the most fragile segments of the population. The Health Society itself is strongly opposed and fought by the political forces of the current majority.”
