Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

Conte: "Resilience exercise, we guarantee continuity of the investment plan"

Milan, March 16 2023 – The Chamber of Palazzo Marino today approved the 2023-2025 budget of the Municipality of Milan. With the vote of the Assembly of elected representatives - 27 in favor and 14 against - the process of the manoeuvre, started with the guidelines presented to the Council last December by the budget councilor Emmanuel Conte and continued with fifteen investigative commissions, concludes , until the presentation in court on February 27th. The approval, which arrives well within the time established by law (30 April), avoids the Organization having to operate in twelfths and guarantees continuity of the investment plan linked to the PNRR funds, equal to approximately one billion.

"In the context of crisis in which we find ourselves – explains Conte – large cities like Milan are called to exercise resilience and to promote a new development model in the name of financial, environmental and social sustainability, which is competitive and integrative at the same time time. The document we approve today is a synthesis of choices that take into account the difficult context, but supports a high, albeit realistic, vision of the city: a project for a European city, increasingly just and in which the quality of life is not is only the prerogative of a few, but in which everyone, in particular the weakest, women, young people and those discriminated against, have the same right to be part of this community in terms of home, work and opportunities. Reducing inequalities is not the only thing an ethical objective, but also a condition for growth".

For the capital account part, there is space in the three-year budget for 4,85 billion investments, of which 1,9 billion from the first year of the Works Plan.

For the current part, the budget balances for 2023 are set at 3 billion and 594 million, an increase of 22 million compared to the 2022 budget and 248 million compared to 2017. Against a decrease in revenue from state transfers equal to 51 million (from 678 million in 2022 to 627 million), financial break-even is guaranteed by own resources and extraordinary measures such as the use of 140 million in proceeds from real estate disposal, by the remodulation of 1,5 billion of the debt and by a improvement of planning and expenditure containment. The main rigid expenditure items stand at 878,4 million for local public transport, 673,6 million for staff remuneration, 291 million for the AMSA service, while three items of increase weigh on the Municipality's accounts for an overall impact of around 100 million: 27 million for the increases in energy and gas prices (covered by state aid for 9,3 million), 18 million for the increase in interest rates on new mortgages, 42,5 million for the license fee concession for the new M4 metro, which will become 100 million in 2025.

"They are elements of discussion with the Government – ​​continues Conte – in a spirit of frank dialectics and loyal cooperation, to stimulate a reform of the finance of local authorities that takes into account the role of municipalities and large ones like Milan, which invest in infrastructure at the service of not only the Milanese. We need specific rules for virtuous municipalities that must be able to plan spending while also taking into account future management costs. If we want to use large centers as an engine for Italy's development, we will need to structure them together of compensation mechanisms".

On the revenue side, considering the good data for the last part of 2022, an increase in revenue from the tourist tax (from 35 to 55 million), from the additional IRPEF (from 195 to 210 million), from transport proceeds is expected local public (from 320 million in 2022 to 395 million) and from dividends from investee companies, expected at 95,8 million compared to 72,5 in 2022.

"The Municipality of Milan – comments Conte – guarantees a high quantity and quality of services by leveraging its financial autonomy, with tax and non-tax revenues covering more than 80% of the current budget. The current context has forced us to difficult recomposition of the net expenditure of all departments to guarantee fundamental services and functions with priority. With coherence and responsibility we will continue our action to rebalance the accounts, which must be increasingly based on flexibility".