The Chamber of Barcelos achieved its best budget execution in the last four years. The data is contained in the Accountability documents approved at an extraordinary meeting of the municipal executive.
According to the document, revenue had an overall final execution of close to 95% (124 million), while the expenditure execution rate exceeded 81% (106 million). It should be noted 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 City Council, 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 council majority established with the people of Barcelona”.
Making a comparison with previous years, the mayor highlights that “the results achieved in 2023 were very positive, which demonstrates rigor in revenue projection and great capacity in budget execution”.
Mário Constantino 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 exceeded those of 2022 and those of previous years are the responsibility of governance of the PS Executive. Investment almost doubled from 2020 to 2023”, highlighted the mayor.
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. It is also important to note that a very significant part of the increase in the acquisition of services item 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.
The City Council, throughout 2023, transferred more than 14 million euros to the Parish Councils, divided as follows: through contracts for the delegation of powers, two 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.
“The 2023 financial year records excellent execution rates, in terms of commitments, implementation and payments. Compared to 2020, investments went from close to eight million to more than 21 million euros, a growth of 175.23%”, he highlights.
