Local Authorities, Associate Holding of Municipal Function Gets the Go-Ahead

The Standing Conference of Regione and Local Autonomies, chaired by the Regional Minister for Autonomies, gathered at Palazzo Santa Lucia and the regulation of unions of Local Authorities was on the agenda.

Regione presented to the Conference a paper with the main guidelines on the best contexts for an associate holding of municipal functions. The draft, that was approved, set forth that the compulsory unions (established in the application of Law among Municipalities with less than 5 thousand inhabitants and less than 3 thousand if they belong or used to belong to Upland Authorities) and voluntary unions must be consistent with the 45 territorial development systems set up in accordance with the Territorial Regional Plan.

An exemption is provided for local authorities with less than 1 thousand inhabitants, that intend to start Unions of Municipalities to hold all functions.

Local authorities willing to associate, have to be neighboring and the main functions have to be held with a single Union.

Main functions are general organization of administration; financial, accounting and auditing management; general interest public service management under municipal jurisdiction, including public municipal transport service; real estate register, excluding the functions kept by State in accordance with the current laws; town planning and building under municipal jurisdiction as well as territorial planning at supra-municipal level; municipal activities of emergency planning and coordination of first aids; organization and management of collection, disposal and recovery of municipal wastes and their tax collection; planning and management of local social services and their performance for citizens; school construction for those areas in which Province do not participate; school service organization and management of school services; municipal police and local administrative police; register of births, marriages and deaths, population keeping and all tasks for registry and electoral services holding state functions; statistical services.  

The minimum demographic limit has been set at 10 thousand inhabitants. Finally, the union implementation is set by 1 January 2014.

Regional Minister Sommese stated: “We will work on a law text to find the best contexts in line with the proposal presented to the Standing Conference. They must be bound to Territorial Development Systems to complete the re-organization of the institutional structure started with the regional territorial Plan”.

"Our aim is to enhance the simplification process, creating conditions for citizens to benefit from more and more efficient services supplied by the public administration and, at the same time, achieving saving through the combination of functions" Regional Minister concluded.