Among the big cities that went to vote, shorter payment times in Verona, longer in Palermo

How long does it take on average for large Italian cities, involved in the 2022 electoral round, to pay their trade debts? To make the point is Centro Studi Local Entities (CSEL), in a dossier for Adnkronos, recalling that the maximum allowed by the legislative decree. n. 231/2002 (of community derivation) is usually 30 days and longer times can be agreed with the creditor, up to a maximum of 60. “The most virtuous city, also from this point of view, is Verona – claims Csel – which has an index of timeliness of payments equal to minus 22 days. On average, therefore, in the city led by the new mayor Damiano Tommasi, in 2021 the invoices were paid 8 days after receipt. Genoa follows, with minus 14 (therefore with an average of 16 days after receipt of the invoice), Piacenza with -9.90, Parma with -9.35 and Modena with -2.17 “. “The longer the payment times – says Csel – in the southern cities examined. Taranto has on average exceeded the maximum time allowed by 4 days. Palermo is the only Municipality whose indicator relating to 2021 has not been made available on the institutional website. L The latest data published in the transparent administration section refers to 2020 and is equal to +31.77 days with respect to the maximum limit. This makes it by far the institution with the longest average payment times among those covered by this research ” . “In between, Messina and Padua, which have an average indicator of payments close to zero days, therefore they are essentially in line with the laws of the sector and last year paid their debts on average 30 days after receipt”, adds Csel. One of the useful indicators for assessing the financial health of municipalities is the structural rigidity index, which measures the percentage of current revenues that are used to cover the salaries of municipal employees and the installments of loans and mortgages contracted by the institution. “There are great differences – he underlines – between the Municipalities over 100 thousand inhabitants who went to the polls in 2022: they go from 16% of Taranto to 35% of the Municipality of Genoa. In the middle, Piacenza with 21%, Parma with 22%, Padua (26%), Verona (27%), Monza (32%). For the Municipalities of Palermo and Messina this data, referring to 2021, is not yet available but the latest available, that of 2020, tells us that in the Sicilian regional capital, mortgages and personnel absorb 28% of current expenses while in the city of the Strait, they stop at 23% “. “Although it is generally desirable to have a structural rigidity index as low as possible, it must be said that by itself this indicator – specifies Csel – does not give an exhaustive picture of the real overall financial situation of an institution. policies on participatory bodies and the more or less marked use of vehicles outside the Municipality to provide instrumental services to the territory with correlatively differentiated personnel costs. A Municipality that has outsourced services such as canteens or school transport to an investee company, for example , will have lower personnel costs (and therefore a better structural rigidity index), as a significant portion of these costs will be borne by the investee company in question “. “If we look only at the incidence of personnel expenditure (the main item of the aforementioned structural rigidity index), we find at the two extremes – explains Csel – the Municipality of Taranto, where the cost of personnel is equal to 21% of the total current expenditure. , and Monza with 31%. Not far from Padua and Genoa with 30%, Verona with 27%, Piacenza with 23% and Parma with 22%. Also in this case, to talk about Messina and Palermo it is necessary to refer to 2020, the last year for which it was possible to obtain the data. It emerged, in Messina, an incidence of personnel expenditure on the total current commitments equal to 21% against 32% in Palermo “.” All parameters of 2021 deficit of the Municipalities over 100 thousand inhabitants involved in the administrative 2022 (except for Palermo and Messina which have not published the Table of target parameters) are respected “. “Out of the chorus only the Municipality of Taranto – he warns – which presents values ​​beyond the threshold for parameters P6 and P8, relating respectively to the recognition of off-balance sheet debts, recognized and financed, for more than 1% of the commitments relating to current expenses and to capital expenditure, and to the collection capacity, on accruals and residuals, less than 47% of the total assessments pertaining to the competence added to the total active residues at the beginning of 2021 “.