Mergers of Municipalities – Hypothesis 3 Municipalities

The infographic reports the results related to the quantification of possible savings and levels of contribution in the long term following the merger hypothesis of three municipalities in the province of Modena: Bastiglia, Bomporto and San Prospero.

The merger is the integration of pre-existing municipalities and the establishment of a single authority, in which the financial, human and technological resources are aggregated.

The main advantages are:

• rationalization of local administration;
• reduction of inefficiencies due to inadequate structures (reducing the level of expenditure with the same output);
• improvement of quality and quantity of services provided to citizens thanks to the activation of services that small municipalities alone would not be able to organize;
• very large-scale economies in administration services.

The optimal expenditure level is given by historical expenditure net of:

• Expenses referable to environmental characteristics (morphology, climate, seismic risk, population density, surface, etc.);
• Expenses for services offered in addition to the national minimum value.

Contributions due to merged municipalities:

• Extraordinary state contribution per year for a maximum period of 10 years amounting to 60% of the tax transfers assigned for 2010 with a maximum limit for each merger of 2,000,000 euros;
• Ordinary regional contribution per year for a period of 10 years based on criteria and methods identified by regional law and with a maximum for each merger of € 1,000,000/year.

The net expenditure of these municipalities is compared with an expenditure target for municipalities with less than 20,000 inhabitants.

The potential saving is 89 euros per capita, the functions with the highest saving are general functions with 54 euros per capita.

State contribution amounts to 89 euros per capita, regional contribution to 10 euros per capita