Modica, Ruffino takes a hard stance: "The mayor Monisteri's budget policy is rejected"

The municipal councilor of the DC, Alessio Ruffino, attacks the mayor Maria Monisteri after the rejection in the Senate of the amendment to the so-called “Milleproroghe” that would have extended the time frame for recovery from financial distress from 10 to 15 years.

For the representative of the Christian Democracy, this is “yet another missed opportunity” that certifies, once again, the inconsistency of the financial strategy of the Monisteri Administration.

Ruffino recalls that the first citizen had announced wanting to wait for the outcome of the amendment before bringing the permanently balanced budget to the Executive and, subsequently, to the City Council for the opinion of the Auditors.

“Today, in light of the rejection, this alibi also falls”, he states.

According to the councilor, the city has been waiting for months for a clear, concrete, and restart-oriented accounting document: a tool capable of restoring prospects to a struggling local economy, strengthening services that are now lacking, and planning a development that seems stagnant.

On the contrary, Ruffino denounces, there is “a financial policy made of delays, waits, and time-taking” that has produced a single outcome: administrative paralysis.

The permanently balanced budget, he emphasizes, is still far from the chamber, despite the fact that since January 30, 2025 – the date indicated as the start of the process – the 90 days normally provided by law for its definition and transmission have long since passed.

“Now there are no more obstructive reasons. It is necessary and no longer postponable to bring the BSR to the City Council, opening a transparent dialogue with the councilors”, insists Ruffino, who complains that the elected officials have so far been kept on the sidelines of “a fundamental step for the future of the city”; always in the dark since January of last year because perhaps the Mayor is unaware of the main and elementary rules of institutional and democratic dialogue.

There are also unresolved issues on the management plan: “Without an approved financial tool, how does one intend to proceed with the stabilization of the ASU? How does one plan to ensure administrative continuity and serious programming?”, asks the councilor.

Also in the crosshairs is the institutional communication of Palazzo San Domenico: on such a significant issue, Ruffino observes, the mayor has not shown the same media urgency reserved for other circumstances, with “no posts, no reels, no public updates” useful to clarify the next steps to citizens. “When governing a city in financial difficulty, transparency cannot be intermittent”, he warns.

The conclusion is a peremptory call to action: Modica needs clarity and timeliness, not further delays. “The time for waiting is over. Now concrete actions are needed.”