The Sicily Region has appointed ad acta commissioners in 147 of the 391 municipalities on the island (28.64%), which have not yet approved the budget.
470 municipalities in Italy are in a state of crisis (213 in failure + 257 in near-failure), of which 112 (23.83%) in Sicily, where 69 (32%) are in failure, an absolute national record, while the municipalities in I predict there are 43 (34%).
Once the European electoral consultations were concluded, the councilor for Local Autonomy Andrea Messina yesterday signed the decrees appointing the commissioners of 147 municipalities, who will have the task of approving the 2024-2026 budget estimates.
Last May 22, a delegation from Anci Sicilia at a hearing at the control section for the Sicilian Region of the Court of Auditors underlined the obvious close correlation between the progressive decrease in national and regional funds allocated to local authorities and the very high number of municipalities in critical financial conditions, underlining how a reversal of the trend in the number of financial crises is unthinkable if there is no increase in ordinary transfers destined for local authorities.
The study published yesterday by the National Foundation of Accountants “The state of crisis of local authorities: evolution and prospects” assigns Sicily the absolute primacy of the region with the greater number of municipalities in difficulty. In the eight regions of Noon (South plus Islands) account for 88.26% of the disasters in Italy.
In summary, the general picture that emerges from the research is that of a current situation of financial crisis (active procedures) widespread mainly in the Southern regions (51% of entities in danger of failing, 56% of entities in failure) and in Sicily (17% of entities in danger of collapse, 32% of entities in difficulty) and, even more significantly, concentrated in small entities (82% of predispositions in progress concern municipalities with up to 15,000 inhabitants, of which 53% are concentrated in municipalities with population of up to 5,000 inhabitants, while 76% of open failures concern municipalities with up to 15,000 inhabitants, of which 45% are concentrated in municipalities with a population of up to 5,000 inhabitants).
According to the FNC study, the research data demonstrate that the legislative instruments made available have not allowed and do not allow the crisis to be intercepted in adequate times and that therefore a tool and/or procedure is needed to monitor financial tensions, (any) imbalances and the continuation of the prospective balance in adequate times, and which allows the risk of crisis to be anticipated.
In the FNC research it is reported that the Order of Accountants has proposed, regarding the forthcoming publication of the draft law containing delegation to the government for the modification of the legislation on the organization of local authorities, a revision of the deficit parameters and of the institutions through the identification of more stringent indicators capable of promptly highlighting situations of imbalance and responding to their preventive warning function on the accounting situation of the entities. The accountants also propose the introduction of a “financial health rating” and a new formulation of the provisions of the Tuel which would reduce the demographic threshold of the entities below which the audit body has a monocratic structure to 5,000 inhabitants and would provide that all the unions of municipalities, without differentiation, are equipped with a review body in collegial composition.
