Livre in the Lisbon Chamber today considered that the municipal budget proposal for 2023 reflects “disinvestment” in mobility and decarbonization and “excessive dependence on tourism”, in which it underestimates that associated with the current inflationary crisis.

“The budgets on which the budget is based reflect the post-pandemic economic recovery, but underestimate that associated with the current inflationary crisis”, said Livre at the Lisbon City Council (CML), in a written reaction sent to the Lusa agency on the proposed municipal budget for 2023, presented on Tuesday by the PSD/CDS-PP leadership, which governs without an absolute majority.

Without revealing what the vote for the proposal will be, the Livre party, which has one elected member of the Lisbon city council, councilor Rui Tavares, said that the budget for next year maintains “too great dependence on tourist activity and investment speculative alien”.

These two situations, “especially the continuation of the commitment to unregulated tourism as the engine of the city’s economy, add enormous pressure to the housing market”, warned Livre, noting that the proposal to increase the budget for the tourism sector by four million euros, “at the same time that the budget for culture decreases from 41.5 million in 2022 to 38.8 million euros in 2023”.

According to the presentation made by the vice-president of the CML, Filipe Anacoreta Correia (CDS-PP), who is in charge of Finance, the proposed municipal budget for 2023 suggests an increase in the amount intended for culture area, rising from 45 million euros in 2022 to 55 million next year.

Livre stressed that the CML’s budget proposal for 2023 “is a document that is based on a progression of revenue growth that is strongly dependent on direct taxes”, such as the Municipal Property Tax (IMI) and the Municipal Tax on Onerous Property Transfers ( IMT ) and the pour (municipal tax on corporate profits), as well as fees and fines.

On the revenue side, the party criticized “the loss of around seven million euros from the fixed participation in the IRS [Imposto sobre o Rendimento das Pessoas Singulares]compared to the previous year”, as a result of the increase in the return of this tax to residents, which increased from 2.5% to 3%, and which next year could be 3.5%: “This year alone, this translates into in a loss of total revenue of around 47 million euros”.

From the analysis of the proposed budget for 2023, Livre noted “the total stagnation of initiatives in terms of housing, in particular, new construction”, which it considers essential for Lisbon, as well as “robust and swift investment in quality public housing and other options at controlled prices”.

The party said that the budget of the municipal company SRU for 2023, within the scope of affordable income, “is reduced compared to 2022 and the budget forecasts for 2023 and 2024 fall compared to that foreseen in the multi-annual plan 2021-2025 — of around 98 million to 70 million euros, over the two years as a whole, when comparing this GOP instrument [Grandes Opções do Plano] with the proposal for 2023-2027”.

At the health level, Livre reiterated that the “Lisboa 65+” health plan continues to raise doubts and indicated that the proposed expenditure for this area in 2023 “drops considerably, from 29 million euros to around 10 million”.

In the area of ​​mobility, he warned that “the Municipal Directorate of Mobility goes from a total budgeted expenditure of 94 million euros in 2022 to 71 million euros in 2023”, criticizing the complete stagnation of the expansion of the cycling network and highlighting the disinvestment of the network Gira, explaining that the planned investment for shared parties next year “increases, but only compared to 2022, the lowest budget since the creation of Gira in 2017”.

With regard to soft mobility, according to the deputy mayor, the proposed budget is three million euros for 2023, which represents an increase of 50% compared to 2022, and includes the reinforcement of the Gira shared bicycle network, with the provision of 29 more stations and 1,000 more bicycles.

The municipal budget proposal for 2023, which will be discussed by the executive council on November 30, proposes an expenditure of 1,305 million euros, higher than the replacement for this year (1.16 million), and which “is in line with expectations of revenue”, even the values ​​coincide, expecting the chamber to have an “investment growth of around 15%”, which could reach 455 million euros.

This is Lisbon’s second municipal budget of the current mandate, 2021-2025, under the presidency of social democrat Carlos Moedas, who governs without an absolute majority, with seven elected members of the “Novos Tempos” coalition (PSD/CDS-PP/MPT/ PPM/Aliança) among the 17 elements that make up the executive council.

The first budget of the PSD/CDS-PP leadership was approved thanks to the abstention of the five PS councillors, having received the votes against the rest of the opposition, namely two from the PCP, one from BE, one from Livre and one from the independent councilor of Citizens for Lisbon (elected by the PS/Livre coalition).

In the municipal budget for 2022, the council forecast an expenditure of 1.16 billion euros, higher than the previous year (1.15 billion in 2021), highlighting the measure of free public transport for residents in Lisbon under the age of 23 years and over 65, with an annual budget of up to 14.9 million euros.