TCM sees no irregularity in Nunes’ spending on education – 02/21/2024 – Education

The TCM (Court of Accounts of the Municipality) decided, by majority, that there was no irregularity in the rendering of accounts by the City of São Paulo under the Ricardo Nunes (MDB) administration in 2021. The court judged that the municipal administration complied with the minimum expenditure on education required by the Federal Constitution.

The decision was taken at the session this Wednesday (21) after counselor João Antonio da Silva Filho read his vote. He was the only one who voted for the irregularity of the accountability. The other three counselors judged her as regular.

Such as Sheet published in December 2023, a TCM report pointed out that the city hall recorded almost R$1.5 billion in expenses in the 2021 fiscal year, but the works and services were only carried out from the following year, in what could be considered a kind of “fiscal pedal”.

The amount of R$1.5 billion was committed — that is, reserved in the budget to be paid — from four contracts, three of which were signed on December 30, 2021.

All states and municipalities are required to spend at least 25% of the total tax revenue on education. Without the amount of R$1.5 billion, however, that year’s accounts would only reach 22.7%. TCM technicians had already recommended in a report, completed last semester, that the amounts be removed from the calculation of the accounts.

Now, the majority of councilors understood that there was no “pedaling” or irregularity, as the resource was in fact spent on education. They judged that the amount of R$1.5 billion should be considered within the area’s expenses and, thus, concluded that the city hall reached the constitutional minimum expenditure.

They only made one recommendation to the Municipal Department of Education not to make this practice recurring (committing resources in one year and spending only in the next).

The analysis of the accountability should have taken place at the end of last year, but was postponed after a request from counselor João Antonio. An unfavorable decision to the city council in the Court’s plenary session could, ultimately, become a threat to the eligibility of Nunes, who intends to run for re-election.

In December, the city hall had already argued that there was no irregularity, contested the previous conclusions of the TCM audit area and stated that there are decisions in state and federal audit courts that support its arguments.

“The objective of carrying out the aforementioned commitments at the end of 2021 was to reserve budgetary resources for Education, even considering the turn of the year. In other words, the procedure aimed to guarantee more investments for the area, not less”, said the city hall in a note to report at the time.