A few pennies for end-of-year events. Christmas 2024: this year Santa Claus will have to come a little earlier, perhaps in July, to bring, with the budget adjustment, the money necessary to replenish the expense items, which at the moment seem rather skimpy.
A few pennies for end-of-year events
“Only 35 thousand euros for Christmas initiatives, in 2023 it was 250 thousand, when 12 thousand euros were also foreseen for professional assignments, while this year we are at zero”. The issue is raised by PD city councilor Francesca Sanna, who also observes the “slimming” of contributions for cultural events. “We have gone – says the Dem exponent – from 217 thousand euros to 60 thousand, while last year for Christmas events there were 126 thousand euros, this year zero”.
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The Christmas dish cries
What is crying, among others, would seem to be the Christmas dish, at least for now: “On the specific chapters there are currently only 35 thousand euros, compared to 388 thousand euros in 2023”, even if, overall, adding other expenses, the last edition, according to Sanna, would have cost “over 700 thousand euros”. A figure perhaps prohibitive this year: “In the budget there are 3 million and 400 thousand euros of new expenses, 900 thousand for personnel, 400 thousand for greenery, 90 thousand weeding, 470 thousand mortgages”, which does not correspond to a ” policy of increasing revenue”, for which it would have been necessary to “cut other expenses”.
A glimmer of hope could open with the budget adjustment in July
Among these, at the moment, there would also be those for Christmas, for which, however, a window could open with the budget adjustment in July, when new resources could be made available. A perspective on which Sanna herself urges prudence: “The administrative surplus – she explains – was used only for a small part, 700 thousand euros of that available for capital expenditure, that of the current part, which generally serves to replenish precisely those expenses that are moved forward in the year, has not been touched, because it may have to be used for budget balances, therefore unavailable.
Tiziana Mancinelli
FULL ARTICLE IN THE VITERBO COURIER OF 17 JUNE – DIGITAL NEWSSTAND
