There are also the municipalities of Marsala and Petrosino in the list published by the Sicilian Region regarding the data updated to 6 May, of the local authorities that have failed to comply with the approval of the 2024/2026 budget estimates. Naturally, and unfortunately, the financial planning document on our island is approved by only 143 administrations, or 35% of the total. After having granted an extension in recent weeks to comply with legal obligations, the department announces that the procedure for appointing commissioners is already at a very advanced stage and the replacement intervention by the Region is imminent. It is useful to remember that the budget forecast is the instrument through which the institution plans the activities and services to offer citizens over the three-year period, and is an essential condition in order to be able to authorize expenses.
Just yesterday a meeting of the Budget Commission of the Lilybetan Municipality was held. On the Agenda are some preparatory documents for the financial instrument which, although not officially in possession and transmitted to the Maximum Civic Council, are known to the city councilors who are starting the discussion. We spoke to the councilor with responsibility for the budget, Salvatore Agate, on the topic. “We are working intensely on the preparatory documents for the budget forecast to send them to the attention of the city council as soon as possible – the representative of the Grillo council told us -. Bureaucracy is one of the most terrible evils of good administration. There are a whole series of related procedures that take a long time. It is in our interest to proceed quickly given that we are working in an extraordinary regime and there are funds that could be used but without the approval of the budget they remain blocked”. Meanwhile, from Palermo we learn that the regional Department of Local Autonomy has already started the procedure for appointing commissioners and that it is at a very advanced stage. In other words, if the municipalities – in our case Marsala and Petrosino – are not timely, there will be the substitute intervention of the Region for the approval of the financial document.
As regards the body led by Giacomo Anastasi, as will be remembered, in June 2023 the President of the Republic, on the recommendation of the Minister of the Interior Matteo Piantedosi, appointed the extraordinary liquidation commission for the Municipality of Petrosino which was declared in financial distress.
