Mayors say they will sue Union for debts with municipalities

With harsh criticism of the federal government, the legislation passed by Congress and the decisions of the Federal Supreme Court, the mayors intend to sue the government on account of the debts generated in the municipalities due to the lack of transfers by the Union to public policies created without support for local budgets. The decision was announced this Tuesday morning (28) during the opening of the 24th March of Mayors, held in Brasília with the presence of authorities such as governors, ministers of State and vice president Geraldo Alckmin.

Without presenting a total amount of debts that will be collected in court, the president of the National Confederation of Municipalities (CNM), Paulo Ziulkoski, said that there is a clear federative conflict of competences between what the Union dictates and what is determined by the more than 5,500 municipalities, and that this is not specifically from the current government which, according to him, is still taking care of the situation.

However, he says, it is not because the government is new that it should not be responsible for the decisions that have been taken in recent years. “They want the mayor to come to Brasília to beg for resources. We are pleading for dialogue, unfortunately the municipalities were never heard by Brasília”, said Ziulkoski.

According to the president of CNM, the Executive and Legislative powers have been determining measures and social programs that directly affect the coffers of municipalities without giving due consideration. The confederation listed 34 areas with issues that need to be resolved and that, many of them, will be taken to court.

Among the issues raised by the mayors are the increase in the teaching floor through an ordinance instead of a law, which would have led 1,100 city halls to go beyond the Fiscal Responsibility Law; the obligation to universalize access to daycare centers for 7.9 million children who are out of education, which will generate an extra cost of R$ 113 billion; the determination to expand vaccination coverage without providing the necessary amount of vaccines; the active search for families able to join Bolsa Família without hiring more agents for the Social Assistance Reference Centers (CRAS), among others.

“We took some examples to show how serious this is. Where is the money to pay? They are creating wildly (sic)”, said Paulo Ziulkoski.

The president of the CNM also said that the few “boring” meetings to which the mayors are called do not solve many of the problems generated by the creation of programs and determinations without support to the municipal coffers, and that it is necessary to have “dialogue with execution”.

“We are going to judicialize everything, because we have to have respect. After all, if they must, it is not [só] of the government that is taking over, it has to have a form. Either settle with us or we’re going to file a project to make the debt indefeasible. Let’s help moralize the federative issue, ”she said.

Shortly afterwards, vice-president Geraldo Alckmin stated that the government is open to “full dialogue”, and that it is already working with municipalities to resolve some of the issues and increase transfers to assistance programs. This Monday (27), Minister Alexandre Padilha, of Institutional Relations, announced that he would release R$ 3 billion in parliamentary amendments to municipalities that had been dammed since last year.

Alckmin also responded to some of the questions raised by the confederation, such as the increase in transfers from the Ministry of Health to the states to meet the repressed demand of the Unified Health System (SUS), which the CNM points out in one billion actions, of which 4.6 million at the hospital level. “In health we have the greatest demand, it was the largest extract with R$ 22 billion more”, said the vice president.

He also mentioned the actions aimed at Minha Casa Minha Vida, Bolsa Família, and said that he would investigate with the Ministry of Education the difference in the readjustment of school lunches for day care centers, which would have been 28%, and for elementary and high school, of 39%.

Tax reform on the radar of mayors

According to Paulo Ziulkoski, the discussion of the tax reform, expected to have a debated part still in this first semester, needs to contemplate the revision of the ICMS, which can be integrated to the ISS by the project in process. The city hall of São Paulo was against the proposal, due to the risk of losing revenue.

“In conversations with the rapporteur, we managed to change the issue from origin to destination, so that the tribute is not in just one city, and I speak of concentration. Of the R$101 billion ISS collected in Brazil, R$26 billion remain with the city of São Paulo, which has 6% of the population. Is it fair to keep that?” he asks.

Alckmin avoided answering the question, stating only that, when the 1988 Constituent Assembly was held, the ICMS had an increase in transfers to states and municipalities with the inclusion of services such as telecommunications, energy and fuel.

Tax reform will be the subject of a long discussion this Tuesday afternoon (28), with the participation of ministers Fernando Haddad, of Finance, and Simone Tebet, of Planning, of the extraordinary secretary for the matter, Bernard Appy, among others.

Mayors plan to sign bills

Also during the opening of the March, the president of the confederation stated that projects to amend the Constitution will be filed on issues such as pension reform, which would have generated a deficit of R$ 170 billion for municipalities, and that the coincidence of mandates between mayors, governors and other executive branch officials. Currently, municipal elections take place in the middle of majority terms.

“The cost of the election is BRL 21 billion. TSE
[Tribunal Superior Eleitoral] discloses that it spent BRL 4 billion, not with candidacy funding. I’m talking about Electoral Justice. But which mayor is not subpoenaed by the judge to provide vehicles, employees, interns, paper, food. How much does it cost? Whose competence is it, the municipalities? From the Union, from the states”, he questioned, also emphasizing that the budgets of the mayors with the governors and the Presidency “do not communicate”.

Ziulkoski completed by stating that the demands of the mayors will be forwarded to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), to the deputies and senators and to the press, with the claims and issues to be resolved.