The Region's budget between light and shadow: assets have doubled, but there are 39 "controlled" entities in the red.

Doubling of net assets, slight decrease in operating results, reduction of indebtedness, increase in personnel costs, profit for 54 regional entities and companies, but losses for 39 subjects. This is a picture of light and shadow that emerges from the report of the budget service of the Ars which examined the consolidated budget of the Region for 2024, a document approved by the government and which will be on the agenda of the Finance Committee of the Assembly tomorrow.

Of the 136 subjects that make up the Public Administration Group (Gap), including the pool of entities, instrumental bodies, and controlled and participated companies, the document consolidated 93. The net assets - the wealth of the consolidation group net of liabilities, consisting of equity, reserves, and the economic result of the group’s operations - amounts to 6.39 billion, with a significant increase compared to the 3.06 billion in 2023 (a fiscal year that had already shown a recovery compared to the negative figure of 1.37 billion in 2022). The positive components of management (income and revenues) stand at 23.81 billion, consolidating the trend of 2023: 23.57 billion.

The negative ones (costs related to ordinary management, both typical of public entities and those related to the acquisition of goods and services) amount to 19.41 billion, slightly down compared to 2023 (19.56 billion). The difference between positive and negative components is 4.40 billion, improving compared to the 4.01 billion in 2023. The group operating result stands at 3.47 billion, lower than the 4.01 billion of the previous year. The total debt exposure amounts to 14.14 billion, with a reduction in financing debts of 6.23 billion, continuing the decrease initiated in 2023 compared to the 6.74 billion in 2022. The personnel cost is 1.10 billion, confirming a gradual increase compared to the 953.9 million recorded in 2022.

The contribution of companies and instrumental entities to the consolidated economic result, net of the data from the parent company Region, stands at 97.6 million: the differential between the profit of the Region alone (3.37 billion) and the corresponding consolidated group value (3.47 billion); in 2023 it was 219.8 million. "The overall positive result, however, conceals a differentiated situation among companies: the positive results of some entities included in the perimeter compensate for other critical management realities. Overall, of the 93 entities, 54 report a profit, while 39 report an operating loss (there were 32 in 2023)," highlight the technicians of the budget service of the Ars.

From the examination of the accounting results, the report states, "a marked concentration of asset values emerges within a limited number of entities, among which the Pension Fund of Sicily holds an absolutely prominent position, with an asset exceeding 2.5 billion, a net worth of 2.4 billion, and a profit of 103.9 million." And "at the same time, the significance of the Consortium for Sicilian Highways (Cas) is noted, whose asset structure shows an asset of 729 million, a positive net worth of 468.7 million, but an operating loss of -46,555,697 euros."

A particularly significant block concerns the Autonomous Institutes of Public Housing (Iacp), with assets on the balance sheet for the offices of Palermo (349 million), Catania (266 million), and Agrigento (194 million). "However - the Ars report points out - the operating results for 2024 show positive data for only Palermo and Catania among the 10 institutes." Within the scope of the participated companies and financial institutions, the technicians of the budget service report the operations of Siciliacque Spa characterized by an asset of 354 million and a positive operating economic result of 1.3 million and Irfis FinSicilia Spa with an asset of 313 million and a profit of 3.7 million.

On the other hand, "situations of confirmed financial criticality" emerge for some entities included in the perimeter, characterized by negative signs: Info/Rac-Map Spa, with a negative net worth of -12.4 million and an operating loss of about 8 thousand euros; Biosphera Spa, with a negative net worth of -1.9 million and an operating loss of about 25 thousand euros; the Teatro Stabile di Catania with a negative net worth of about 1.5 million euros despite having an operating profit of about 769 thousand euros; Irca, with a negative net worth of -704 thousand euros.

In the report from the budget service of the Ars, which examined the consolidated budget 2024 of the Sicilian Region, the critical issues and recommendations made to the Region by the board of auditors are highlighted. The control body points out that 41 subjects among companies and public entities "have not transmitted any accounting data"; "one has not approved the budget"; "the extraordinary inventory of assets has not been completed", as required by decree law 118; there is no "correspondence of the creditor/debtor situation for various participating companies between the data resulting from the Region's accounting and what is certified by the participating companies themselves", as already highlighted by the board of auditors in the verification of September 18, 2025 regarding the certification of debts and credits between the Entity and the participating bodies; in the asset side, there are deletions made that do not match what was acquired by the board during the certification of credits and debts towards the company Ast, Sicilia Digitale Spa, Sicilia Acque Spa and the Autonomous Institutes of Public Housing of Agrigento, Caltanissetta, and Palermo.

In light of these critical issues, the board of auditors therefore "considers it necessary that the procedures for collecting and sharing the data necessary for the preparation of the consolidated financial statements be made more efficient, also with the assistance of suitable IT applications; that the implementation and simplification of the internal reconciliation procedures for receivables and payables between the Region and the Gap entities be carried out, also for the purpose of certification; and that the administration exercise its powers of intervention and control, mainly regulated by the consolidated text on public companies and the civil code, towards entities/companies that have not communicated any data and/or have not approved the financial statements".