The mandate that the citizens had given, choosing the representatives of the majority and minority of the City Council, ends prematurely, it is thought, due to the strong political contrasts between the Mayor Joseph Cuffari and the President of the Council Antoinette Augustinealmost two years after the expiry of the electoral mandate.
Therefore, yesterday’s last council meeting, called by the President and already postponed due to lack of quorum the previous day, was also fruitless. It should have approved one of the most important acts for the life of the Institution, namely the Budget Forecast for the current three-year period, after the absurd twist that occurred in the Council last Thursday.
In fact, in this last ordinary session, the two preliminary points to the Budget were approved by the 11 out of 12 councilors, namely the 2023 financial management and the respective financial statement, illustrated by the Mayor Giuseppe Cuffari, with the usual critical notes from the President and the DUP (Single Programming Document) characterized by two temporary work suspensions.
So much so that inAs soon as the last point concerning the Budget had been discussed with only the critical interventions of the President and without the presence of the Mayor in the chamber, we were shocked by the results of the vote which reported the votes of the abstentions of the minority and of the President, and, wonder of wonders, the votes against of the majority, thus decreeing the rejection of the budget.
Having failed all attempts to approve the acts, the council’s dismissal is inevitable, a very serious matter for local democracy, but without consequences for the mayor and the council, who will remain in office until the end of their mandate.
Caronia, like other municipalities in Sicily, had been placed under special administration because it was in default by not having approved the budget within the timeframes set by law, and therefore the Region appointed the Commissioner ad acta, Dr. Domenico Mastrolembo Ventura, Inspector of the Regional Department of Local Authorities of the Department.
In fact, he had already taken office on 5 July, was carrying out his function of impetus and solicitation to the Council, and will now probably be called upon to carry out the administrative functions of the Council.
The situation that has come to be created raises several questions in the citizens, which, however, never lead to justifying the loss of sight of the common good of their own town, due to struggles between institutional figures who had committed themselves, at the time of the elections, to design a new and beautiful future for the country and not political failure.