In 2024, Vila Nova de Famalicão's municipal executive plans to manage 163 million euros, in a budget with strong impacts on Housing, Education, Health, Sports, the Environment and Transport.
The "Major Options for the Plan and Budget" for next year will be put to the vote by the Famalicão municipal council next Monday, 27 November, at the Extraordinary Town Hall Meeting scheduled for 09h00.
The mayor, Mário Passos, believes that with this budget proposal, Famalicão is renewing its "ambition in terms of action" and its "commitment in terms of financial and economic discipline".
Housing, which has already been highlighted by the mayor as one of the main challenges for the coming years, is among the areas most emphasised in Famalicense's municipal budget proposal for 2024. Next year will be marked by the implementation on the ground of the first results of the various measures already adopted by the municipality as part of the Local Housing Strategy. We're talking about the start of construction of the new homes contracted under the Public Acquisition Offers launched by the City Council, the handover of the first homes acquired and rehabilitated by the municipality, the creation of a municipal land exchange to make plots available for self-building at lower prices, the promotion of the municipal affordable rental programme "Viver Famalicão", the start of construction of the Student Residence in the urban centre, among other measures.
In the year in which it will be honoured as a European Entrepreneurial Region, the Famalicão municipality will also begin a series of major works that are fundamental to promoting the quality of life of Famalicenses, with significant improvements in parking in the city, with the construction of the new car park next to Famalicão Hospital, the start of the construction process for a silo-auto to create a road-rail interface next to the Railway Station and a new car park next to the Urban Health Unit.
In Education, the start of construction of the new Brufe and Arnoso Santa Eulália Primary Schools and the continuation of the renovation and expansion of the municipal school estate with interventions in various facilities and educational establishments.
In Health, construction has begun on two new Family Health Units, in Joane and São Miguel-o-Anjo, and work has begun on the rehabilitation of the Urban Health Unit and the construction of the new Health Centres in Nine, Ruivães and Lousado. In sports, note the construction of the new Skate Park in Sinçães and the start of the process to improve and expand the Famalicão Municipal Swimming Pools.
Next year will also be marked by the completion of the municipality's water supply network and a major effort to improve the road network, particularly in the recovery of the most degraded Municipal Roads, such as the EM572 linking Ribeirão to the parish of Louro and the EM574 linking Oliveira São Mateus to Pedome.
The Transport area also represents a significant weight in the municipality's budget for 2024, the year in which MobiAve will start operating, a network that will bring a new reality in terms of urban road transport to Famalicão, but also to the neighbouring municipalities of Trofa and Santo Tirso.
Rigour, prudence, transparency and intergenerational equity were once again highlighted as the main pillars of Famalicão's municipal budget.
In the report's opening note, Mário Passos reaffirms his conviction that the year 2024 "will represent another qualitative leap in the progress and development of Vila Nova de Famalicão", a certainty substantiated by the mayor in what he considers to be "well-structured planning and management of the utmost responsibility, predicates that are clearly evident in this Plan and Budget", which points to a current balance of more than three million euros, thus confirming the municipality's budget balance.
"Municipal management requires a serious and responsible approach and it has been this attitude that, in times of great uncertainty such as the one we are experiencing, has given us solid foundations so that we can face up to the various adversities and ensure that in Famalicão no one is left behind. This is how we have built Famalicão and this is how it will continue to be," he added.
Municipality ensures fiscal stability for 2024
Stability continues to be the hallmark of the Famalicense municipality's tax dossier.
This Monday, the municipal council also approved the tax package for 2024, which, among other measures, defines the maintenance of the IMI rate at 0.34% and the Family IMI, which, in 2024, will further reduce the amount of tax to be paid by Famalicense families.
Thus, families with one dependent will have a deduction of 30 euros in IMI (instead of the current 20), families with two dependents will have a deduction of 70 euros in municipal tax (instead of the current 40) and families with three or more dependents will have a deduction of 140 euros (instead of the current 70).
"We decided to join IMI Familiar in 2015 and we will continue to apply this measure next year, thus allowing Famalicense families to pay even less IMI in 2024. It's a measure that affects revenue, but which we intend to maintain next year as a clear sign of support for our families," said the mayor, Mário Passos, who also pointed to "fiscal stability and predictability as important factors for the rigour of public accounts and the guarantee of investment".
As for the municipality's share of personal income tax (IRS), the rate in Famalicão will once again be set at 4.5 per cent. As for the Municipal Surcharge, the municipality will continue with a rate of 1.2 per cent on company profits, but only for those, whose turnover exceeds 250,000 euros. All others will be exempt.