The Chamber of Barcelos approved, with the PS voting against, the accountability report for 2023. The municipality, led by the PSD/BTF/CDS coalition, highlights that “it achieved its best budget execution in the last four years”.
In the introduction to the document, it can be read that revenue had an overall final execution of close to 95% (124 million), while the expenditure execution rate exceeded 81% (106 million).
The Chamber highlights, in a statement sent to newsrooms, that the budget expenditure for the year did not consume all available resources, meaning that more than 17 million euros were carried over to 2024.
For the president of the Chamber, Mário Constantino Lopes, “this accountability demonstrates well the dynamics of municipal management and substantiates the implementation on the ground of projects and measures that are strategic for the development of the municipality, giving expression to the electoral commitments that the current majority council established with the people of Barcelona”.
Making a comparison with previous years, the Barcelona mayor highlights, cited in the statement, that “the results achieved in 2023 were very positive, which demonstrates rigor in revenue projection and great capacity in budget execution”.
Mário Constantino Lopes confirms his statement by stating that “the final revenue execution rate stood at 94.8% and, in terms of expenditure, it recorded an overall final execution rate of 81.22%”, which shows that “these rates surpassed those of 2022 and those of previous years under the governance responsibility of the PS Executive.
Investment almost doubled from 2020 to 2023”, highlighted the president of the Chamber.
Large numbers of Plan and Budget Execution
Regarding the execution of the 2023 Plan and Budget, the Municipality carried out works worth 37 million euros, exceeding the 2022 investment by close to 15 million.
With regard to operating expenses, the amount amounted to 56 million euros, of which 29 million were related to staff costs and 26 million were allocated to the acquisition of goods and services.
“The increase in personnel expenses is justified as workers in schools and some health services are now directly dependent on the Municipality”, says the municipality, adding that “a very significant part of the increase in the item acquisition of services results from the entry into force of the public transport service contract, which increased by 2.8 million euros”.
“However, the most relevant expense, when considering the acquisition of services, is school meals, the expense of which was 4.6 million euros. The expense incurred with public lighting was 2.11 million euros”, he says.
Parishes received more than 14 million
“Considered since the beginning of the mandate as privileged and essential partner entities in the development of the municipality and territorial cohesion”, the City Council throughout 2023 transferred more than 14 million euros to the Parish Councils, divided as follows: through delegation contracts skills, 2 million euros; for interadministrative contracts, 12 million euros.
6.5 million euros were transferred to non-profit institutions. Regarding direct support to families, the amount allocated exceeded one million euros, with emphasis on support for the payment of house rent, in the order of 544 thousand euros.
Execution of the Plan’s Major Options
The 2023 financial year records, according to the Chamber, “excellent execution rates, in terms of commitments, implementation and payments”.
Compared to 2020, investment execution went from close to eight million euros to more than 21 million euros, a growth of 175.23%.
Breaking down this investment by functions, in cultural recreational and leisure facilities, more than five million euros were invested, with the biggest investments being the Rehabilitation of the Help Point do Peregrino building, the execution of the Urban Circular Cycle Path, the urban section of Ecovia do Cávado and the second phase of the Cidade de Barcelos Stadium.
In second place comes the Transport and Communications function (accessibility) with a sum of more than four million euros, of which the majority was invested in the construction of the widening of the Overpass to the Minho Line, in Aborim, the modernization of the EM 505 between EN 306 – Barcelinhos – Carvalhas and the improvement of bus stop conditions.
In terms of investment, the General Public Administration Services function comes in 3rd place with an amount of 3.8 million euros, mainly allocated to the following acquisitions and works: administrative equipment; hardware and software and cybersecurity equipment; requalification of the former Gonçalo Pereira School building; and the rehabilitation of the Trucking Center.
With regard to the Education sector, the Chamber highlights an investment of more than three million euros, in addition to 1.8 million for the requalifications of the Basic School EB1/JI in Pousa and EB1 in Carapeços, and more than one million euros to remove the fiber cement coverings of eighteen school buildings.
