Translated automatically by AI from the Italian original.
In 2025 the Municipality of Syracuse allegedly overcharged owners of multiple properties for the equalisation component of the municipal waste tax (TARI), without later refunding the excess. This is the accusation from Michele Mangiafico, leader of the Civico 4 movement and spokesperson for lighthouses 80, 131 and 135 of the Controcorrente political movement in Syracuse.
“Following a sample investigation we carried out in recent days as part of our civic monitoring of the Municipality of Syracuse, coinciding with the 2026 TARI balance payment being issued and paid by taxpayers, a serious matter has emerged that we intend to report to the Public Prosecutor’s Office at the Court of Auditors and to the city’s public opinion, so that citizens can defend themselves against what happened in 2025, in the (knowing?) silence of the mayor and his administrative machine,” Mangiafico said.
“As taxpayers with more than one home or one or more outbuildings in addition to their main residence will be able to verify, the equalisation component they are being asked to pay in 2026 is significantly lower than what they paid in 2025. In fact, from our analysis, the 2026 payment includes a correct equalisation component, i.e. one corresponding to the taxpayer’s active utility. The Municipality of Syracuse has probably cleaned up the incorrect data it issued in 2025 and charged to taxpayers, without then refunding the undue amount. From our sample analysis, we believe that, for all owners of multiple homes or one or more outbuildings in addition to their home or homes, in 2025 the Municipality issued, on the occasion of the TARI balance payment, an equalisation component calculated on all properties and not just on the active utility. To give some examples, we have verified an equalisation component that went from €76 to €7.60, another from €15.20 to €7.60, and another from €22.80 to €15.20. This affects both individuals and businesses.”
Mangiafico announced that he has sent a certified email to the Court of Auditors to file a formal complaint for suspected damage to public finances and invited citizens to request a refund.
But what is the equalisation component? “It is a ‘small’ fixed amount charged on the bill to cover general national costs, such as exceptional events, social bonuses and the management of waste fished from the sea,” Mangiafico explained. “It is redistributed among all citizens, but with the rule that it is applied only to the citizen’s active utility and not to all their properties and outbuildings. Where does the magic number of €7.60 come from? It is €6 for the social bonus, €1.50 for calamitous events and €0.10 for sea waste. This is where any multiples for active utilities come from. It is highly probable, from the investigation we carried out, that in 2025 the Municipality of Syracuse committed an abuse, pocketing hundreds of thousands of euros unduly taken from the pockets of the people of Syracuse without ever refunding them and that, realising the mistake, in 2026 it merely issued balances with the correct equalisation contribution.”
“For this reason,” Mangiafico concluded, “we intend to report to the Court of Auditors the suspected damage to public finances and to the Municipal council the suspected ‘false accounting’ in the 2025 financial statement, and to ask the mayor to refund, through administrative review, the sums unduly collected from the people of Syracuse. We also ask to verify whether the presidency of the ATI waste, the sector management and the contracted service company were aware of this mistake made at the citizens’ expense. We invite all citizens to ask the Municipality for the refund of the undue sums.”
