The expensive bills threaten to send the already disastrous accounts of the Italian municipalities into a tailspin. It was seen a few months ago when the Anci, the national association of Italian municipalities led by the mayor of Bari Antonio Decaro, launched the initiative “30 minutes in the dark” to give a signal to the national government. We can see it today in concrete terms: from Desio (Monza and Brianza) to Taormina (Messina), the mayors are in difficulty. “Even public bodies are unable to bear energy costs”, testifies Nedda Manoni, manager of the area Resource management of the Municipality of Desio (Monza and Brianza). And she continues: «Our Municipality has to bear costs for public lighting that have risen by 152%. For just one plant, we received a 4,789 euro bill in July. Desio spent 900 thousand euros for public lighting in 2021 and in 2022 it will pay out over 1.5 million. Not to mention the costs of heating sports facilities and schools. Cities must absolutely be forced to turn off public lighting, reduce temperatures in schools and turn off air conditioning. If there is no law, no mayor will have the courage to turn off the lights ».
The bill for Taormina
In Taormina, the Municipality received a ‘blow’ that threatens to blow the budgets. «The Municipality of Taormina – said the mayor Mario Bolognari – has received a request for payment for the supply of electricity, including public lighting, for a total of € 589,176.15. These bills are issued in May, June and July 2022. If businesses and families are suffering an unprecedented sting, the Municipalities, thus proceeding, will all go into serious suffering. Without state intervention, the result could be that businesses and households will also pay for these increases under various forms of tariffs and taxes. When we did the balance we had foreseen an increase in energy costs, but not of these proportions. Another tile that risks blowing up the 2022 accounts ». After all, the air that pulls is this everywhere.
The president of Anci and the president of the UPI (Province), Michele De Pascale, returned to the issue, asking for urgent action to stop the rise in energy prices. “Families and businesses are already suffering the consequences of the continuous increase in energy costs – the two state in a joint statement – and we know that the government is developing urgent measures. It is essential that these include a support measure for Municipalities and Provinces, in the absence of which the budgets of local authorities are destined to jump. An extraordinary allocation of at least an additional 350 million euros is needed to offset the surge in our energy costs, otherwise the mayors will be forced to painful cuts in public services to the detriment of citizens, in view of an autumn that already promises to be very difficult and worrying “.