OpenCivitas: 2017 data release and methodological innovations

On www.opencivitas.it, it is now possible to consult the 2017 data concerning all the basic functions performed by local authorities (except Local Public Transport, which, as in the previous releases of data, was not considered since the associated historical expenditure cannot be equally calculated for all municipalities providing this service). 

What's new? 

The update considers the methodological innovations approved in September by the Technical Committee for Standard expenditure Needs - CTFS and adopted by the State-Cities Conference in allocating the Municipal Solidarity Fund for 2021. Compared to 2015 and 2016, the new methodology concerned: Social care Sector, the Public Roads and Planning function, and the Waste disposal service. 

The social care sector (excluding the nursery service that is estimated separately) includes all the services provided by municipalities to meet the needs of the weakest and most disadvantaged people: minors, young people, the elderly, families, people with disabilities, people addicted to alcohol or drugs, people with mental health problems, immigrants and nomads and adults in low-socioeconomic status. 

Regarding all these services, the previous methodologies considered the regional differences, the so-called "regional dummies" in the analysis of expenditure. The new methodological approach sterilized the territorial differences completely in order not to create different starting points. 

It is worth underscoring that, from this year, more resources were allocated to the social care sector to reduce the differences in the provision of services throughout the country. The estimation of these greater resources considers the level of services and costs of the most virtuous local authorities. 

The Public roads and Planning Function includes all the municipal services that guarantee the usability of public spaces owned by the local authority. In this case, the approved methodological revision changed the weight of the variable “population” in determining standard expenditure needs, meeting the requests made by the local authorities over time. 

The main variable is no longer the population but the total of "real estate units," the sum of all houses, appurtenances, and non-residential properties. Thanks to this change, the presence of properties in an area becomes more significant to meet the needs of the municipalities characterized by a strong presence of second homes and the municipalities affected by depopulation phenomena. 

The Waste disposal service, including the collection, transportation, transformation, recovery, and disposal of municipal solid waste, was excluded from the calculation of standard expenditure needs since 2021. On 13 October 2020, the CTFS decided to neutralize the effects of the component "Waste" since the revenue generated by TARI fully covers the cost incurred for the function. However, the data regarding costs and expenditure needs remain available on OpenCivitas for statistical and information purposes. These data have also undergone significant changes: first of all, the regional systems have been measured not only in quantitative but also qualitative terms and, secondly, new variables have been introduced that can better estimate the costs due to the different methods of waste collection (at home, on-call, through collection centres). 

The remaining services/functions that have not undergone a methodological revision have been updated according to the methodology in force, and the implementation choices approved over time by CTFS. Only the annual data necessary for the application of models already validated in the past were updated. 

Which are the effects of the new methodology on data? 

The new methodological approach makes the 2017 data not comparable with previous years. The revision of variables for some basic functions changes the values concerning those specific functions and the "Total of functions." This step was inevitable to allow a functional and expected evolution of the standard expenditure needs system.