The debut of Mayor Daniel Passerini in the Municipality of Córdoba was economically unfortunate.
There were numerous fronts that did not turn out as projected. The most complicated was the financial one, since the city failed to restructure the dollar debt that Ramón Mestre took on in 2016 and that Martín Llaryora had renegotiated in 2020, determining that the management that succeeded him would have to pay almost 200 million dollars in four years. between capital and interest.
Passerini last February paid the first maturity of 25 million dollars and next September he must face a second maturity for the same amount. The first was covered with an extraordinary issuance of Treasury bills for $30 billion with a one-year term.
Now, in search of a longer term, the municipal administration is awaiting national guarantees for the issuance of a 36-month title, for the same amount.
According to Sergio Lorenzatti, Secretary of Public Administration and Human Capital, this is a strategy that is in line with that implemented by the Province: ”We consider that it is positive to pesify the debt. International maturities are met in dollars and we are left with a debt in the local market, in pesos and much more manageable from a financial point of view,” said the official.
With the amount of each of these maturities in dollars, the municipality could buy 130 buses, build 1,200 blocks of pavement or build two buildings similar to the new headquarters of the Deliberative Council, which is being completed 16 years after its start. “That foreign debt is the most complicated thing the city faces,” Lorenzatti said.
The other unexpected front was the total cut of national transportation subsidies, simultaneously with the cut of provincial contributions. Starting this year, the Province concentrated resources on direct benefits to users through social tickets.
“The municipality is contributing more than $8,000 million monthly to the transportation system,” he indicated. Annualized, that figure has an impact that almost doubles the amounts of debt maturities in dollars.
The Passerini administration is advancing a transportation restructuring that involves integration with the interurban service in the Metropolitan Area. “There will be a tender, a new regulatory framework, a new tariff scheme and payment will be through the Sube card, so the municipality will stop making those contributions to the system,” said Lorenzatti.
The other fact that complicated the first semester was the drop in activity due to the adjustment and the recession. “The decrease with respect to what was budgeted was very pronounced, both in terms of own resources and Co-participation, especially during April and May, when it was down 18%,” said the official.
The budget execution data for the first quarter of the year – published promptly, unlike what happened during the previous administration – indicate that between January and April the municipality’s income amounted to $245 billion, almost 250% above the same period of 2023. Of course, interannual inflation approached 290%.
When the expenditures for the first quarter are observed, the total accrued expense grew by 200%. Spending on personnel rose almost in parallel with income, spending on debt repayment grew dramatically (in 2023 it was 0), transfers to the transportation system multiplied by eight compared to the same period in 2023, and the adjustment He was fierce in matters of public works.
Between January and April, public works payments of only 11.4 billion pesos were accrued, a figure almost identical to that of 2023. When inflation is discounted, the amount is minimal. This situation resulted in a notable deterioration of the road network, lighting and weeding during the initial period of the Passerini administration.
Lorenzatti assured that all the contracts were predetermined, that patching and lighting plans are underway, and that in addition works continued such as that of the Deliberative Council, which is about to be completed and will be inaugurated on July 6, when the celebrate the 451st anniversary of the city’s founding.
The Suoem, calm
Unlike what happened after the arrival of the former mayor and current governor Llaryora in the Municipality of Córdoba, the Passerini administration maintains a relationship of almost zero conflict with the union of municipal employees (Suoem). The calm of the union that Rubén Daniele continues to lead is such that it is observed with surprise outside the 6 de Julio palace.
This is the case despite the fact that salary expenditure remains at low levels compared to the historical average: as in the last two years of the previous administration, the personal item accounts for around 43% of the municipality’s income. In the two decades prior to Llaryora, the salary allocation almost always exceeded 60% and consumed more than 70% of the resources.
In the first quarter of this year, staff salaries consumed $85,482 million. In the first four months of 2023, salary expenditure had required less than $25 million: the increase was 243%, but was significantly below inflation. According to Indec, in April year-on-year inflation was 289.4%.
The current agreement between Passerini and Suoem is that salaries are updated for inflation, with a deferral of two months. Sergio Lorenzatti indicated that June salaries will be paid with a 7% increase and admitted that in the July negotiation the incorporation of 18 points that carry over from the inflationary peak at the beginning of the year should be discussed.
The official stressed that the half bonus will be available from Friday the 28th and that the payment will be made without extraordinary assistance of any kind.
Beyond the 10,000 regular municipal employees – the figure includes executive officials and councilors – the Passerini administration maintains all the programs that were already in force: there are hundreds of positions covered by monotributistas, university internship scholarships and almost 3,000 beneficiaries of the Urban Servers social program (light blue vests).
