In Italy, municipalities account for only 1,6% of the public debt, 96,3% of which depends on central government spending. In our country, there is a gap of 533 euros between per capita spending in large municipalities, with over 100 inhabitants, and that of entities below this demographic threshold. These are some of the main data from a study by CGIA of Mestre on "Local finance in large cities and medium-small municipalities", commissioned by ASMEL, the Association for Modernization and Subsidiarity in Local Authorities with over 2800 member municipalities throughout Italy, which dispels many clichés about public accounts.
The research, analyzing the composition of public debt by sector, shows that 96,3% of it is attributable to central administrations - up from 93,8% in 2010 - and only the remaining 3,7% to peripheral administrations. Among them, municipalities account for only 1,6%, a figure, moreover, down from 2,6% in 2010. Yet, it is precisely on the municipal sector that spending review policies have hit more incisively, with cuts to transfers, starting from 2010, equal to 8,4 billion per year. Compared to the 16 billion transferred annually at that date, a reduction of 53% emerges, despite which, Italian municipalities have significantly reduced their debt, which has fallen by 38% in a period of time (2010-2018) in which, instead, the national debt has grown by 25,4%. With the data from CGIA of Mestre, the widespread belief in possible savings from economies of scale is also scaled down, eliminating the smallest Municipalities as has been attempted to impose for years with forced merger regulations that the Association has tenaciously opposed until the recent victory in the Constitutional Court, which accepted the Asmel appeal. It emerges, in fact, that, in Municipalities with less than 5 thousand inhabitants, the expenditure per inhabitant is 859 euros. Less than the national average and much less than the 1287 euros recorded above 100.000 inhabitants, where the greatest expenditure emerges, with 533 euros per capita more than the Municipalities below this demographic threshold. In Municipalities with more than 100.000 inhabitants, 14 million inhabitants live, and therefore, cost increases of 7,5 billion euros per year are generated. Not to mention the employment in large municipalities of 8,4 units of personnel per thousand inhabitants, compared to the average of 5 units in the others.
"These data represent further confirmation of what we have been saying for years - notes Francesco Pinto, ASMEL general secretary - and that is that small municipalities are virtuous because they are attached to their roots and identity. Those with less than 5 inhabitants, where 16,5% of Italians live, control 54% of the territory and must therefore be protected and assisted. To cut waste, instead of merging the small ones, we must impose on the large ones a real transfer of resources and personnel in the municipal districts. It is the proximity of citizens to spending centers that makes small municipalities virtuous and vital". From waste to the purchase of goods and services: waste in large municipalities and the impositions of the Consip model criticized by ANAC. Then there are some spending sectors with extremely significant data. For waste collection in municipalities with more than 100 inhabitants, the per capita expenditure is more than double, 236 euros, compared to other municipalities which, with an expenditure of only 103 euros, achieve incomparably higher percentages of separate waste collection.
Even more marked is the difference between spending on purchases of goods and services: 742 euros per capita in large municipalities, compared to 398 euros spent in others. "This last figure is clear proof of the cost increases that we have always denounced - Pinto insists - imposed by constraints on centralized purchases, Consip model, difficult to avoid in large entities. It is the ANAC itself, in the results of an investigation conducted on the entities that had evaded the obligations deriving from the inextricable jungle of pro Consip regulations, to define as able and virtuous the municipalities that had obtained better conditions and prices, violating the law. On the contrary, the analyzed Consip agreements are defined, albeit with institutional courtesy, as improvable from an economic point of view, with equal performance". On this front, Asmel points out that, Consip is a term cited 436 times in the Official Journal, in the context of 117 regulatory provisions. “The only thing missing is the motto: I am Consip and you will have no other Consip outside of me” concludes Pinto.
During the Asmel Forum “Autonomy that makes the difference”, which will be held on Monday 24 June starting at 9.30:24 at the Hotel Ramada in Naples, the results of the research by CGIA of Mestre will be presented by the coordinator of the Research Office Paolo Zabeo. A debate will follow, coordinated by Gianni Trovati, editorialist of SoleXNUMXOre, in which Carlo Cottarelli, director of the Public Accounts Observatory of the Catholic University of Milan and ASMEL managers will participate. “In addition to supporting the local production system, with positive effects on the community – states Paolo Zabeo – public works in small municipalities have always been entrusted to entities that not only operate, but live in the same territory. All this triggers a virtuous process that is synonymous with guarantee, efficiency and quality of the work carried out. This is why we need to help small municipalities, because by doing so we also help small businesses to grow and improve the quality of life for all of us”.
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