2025 will not be a good year for Italian mayors, especially those in charge of small or very small municipalities. With further cuts in state transfers, difficulties in the provision of public services and local investments will become more and more significant. Under fire, in particular, is the ‘municipal solidarity fund’, the mechanism that redistributes resources from richer municipalities to those with less fiscal capacity. Although an excellent tool for balancing resources, avoiding inequalities in rights and quality of life, its future appears uncertain.

Another major concern concerns the ‘Contribution for investments in public works to secure buildings and the territory’, established by the 2019 Budget Law. This fund supported municipalities, especially those under 5,000 inhabitants, in energy efficiency, safety of public buildings and prevention of hydrogeological instability. However, the allocated resources have been progressively reduced, from an average of 80 thousand euros per year to 54 thousand in 2024, with the risk that they will be completely eliminated in 2025. Without these funds, small municipalities will struggle to carry out planned projects, carry out ordinary maintenance and respond to territorial emergencies such as landslides and floods.

Mayors’ frustration grows with the risk of not being able to guarantee essential services, fearing to betray the expectations of the community. In many cases, the only way forward will be to increase rates and tariffs, a decision that could further burden resident families. But the most striking paradox concerns the management of the extraordinary resources provided during the Covid emergency. In 2020, the State made about 50,000 euro available for each small municipality, used to deal with the health emergency and ensure the continuity of public services. With those funds, mayors supported fragile people, purchased protective equipment, sanitised public spaces and invested in technology for remote work. Today, years later, the state is asking the municipalities to return part of those resources, despite the fact that they were only used for extraordinary expenses decided by the national government.

This demand for restitution, coupled with cuts in transfers and increasing budgetary difficulties, is a further slap in the face for mayors, once called‘guardian angels‘ during the pandemic. Now those same administrators are left alone to face systemic problems, without the necessary tools to solve them. The risk is that 2025 will not only mark a financial crisis for small municipalities, but a real social crisis that will directly affect citizens. It is time for the State to review its relationship with local authorities, offering the necessary support to prevent municipalities from becoming the symbol of institutional neglect.