Vila Real de Santo António City Council is going to implement the Budget Balance Program, a procedure that aims to balance the municipality's accounts. This decision was announced after the Public Finance Council placed the Vilarealense autarchy among the four in the country that are in financial collapse and a day after the local PS denounced that the FAM suspended its support to the Chamber in May.
According to a report by the Public Finance Council for the first half of 2018, VRSA, together with Cartaxo, Fornos de Algodres and Nordeste (Azores), are the only municipalities in the country with a Total Debt Ratio above 300%, the limit above which an autarchy is considered to be in financial collapse.
This is not a new situation, as in the previous report by the same entity, released in April and for 2017, VRSA was already part of this list.
At the time, the Vila Reale Chamber ensured that the “seal” of financial rupture did not reflect the efforts it was making to pay off debts. But the social-democratic municipal executive, defends the PS, was denied by the execution report of the FAM - Municipal Support Fund for the 4th quarter of 2017, "which was conveniently hidden by the PSD majority and by President Conceição Cabrita since May and is devastating ».
According to the Socialists, who cite the report in question, the managers of this fund have determined, "in view of the behavior shown by the Municipality, it is not feasible to continue providing contractual financial assistance, without the Municipality previously assuming the appropriate correction of its way of functioning » and suspended the transfer of new benefits.
This is because, among other non-compliances, Vila Real de Santo António, on the revenue side, only implemented six of the 11 financial rebalancing measures to which it was obliged and did not comply with any of the 11 foreseen, on the expenditure side, at least in full.
Thus, the tap of money will remain closed, warns the FAM, until some measures are complied with, which, according to the PS, involve «increasing by 10% the collection of fees and taxes, selling the campsite, granting water concessions, demonstrating the SGU's economic viability in the medium term or close the company, proceed with the immediate introduction of the tourist tax, end discretionary expenses without a legal framework, reduce spending by 70% on bus rentals and 50% on parties and reduce support for associations and clubs by 50%».
In a note sent this Thursday to newsrooms, the Chamber of VRSA announced the implementation of "a rigorous plan that is being carried out with maximum responsibility and whose mission is to recover municipal accounts", which will meet these demands .
«To take this project forward, there will be several changes in the internal functioning of the Municipality and the municipal company VRSA SGU, which will be guided by an even stricter management in areas such as the contracting of services, the organization of sectors, the application of budgetary restraint measures or the support to be allocated», warned the municipality.
The «main internal measures» to be developed are the «reduction in the contracting of goods and services, the reduction of telecommunications charges, the reduction of fuel expenses, reviewing the supply of External Goods and Services, reorganizing the events policy, promoting greater criterion in the allocation of social support, develop a support program for clubs and local associations and internal reorganization of services.
For the Mayor Conceição Cabrita, "it would not be fair to overload the population with this effort, so the main changes will be mostly applied at the internal level of the City Council, so that the future of our land remains balanced and responsible."
The PS, the main opposition party, considers that the FAM report, which led the Chamber to move forward with the Financial Rebalancing Program, proves it right.
“Over the last 13 years, we have made numerous complaints and numerous proposals to correct the trajectory we have presented. We were always ignored and, many times, accused of defeatists, prophets of doom or forces blocking the development of the county», accuse the socialists.
«The results are now visible and recognized by an external entity that has nothing to do with local political struggles», concludes the PS.
Comments