Financial Evolution

For each fiscal year, the City Council of Lugano submits to the vote of the City Parliament two reference dispatches for the management of public finances: the budget and the financial statements. Both are examined and can be amended by the Control Committee or by the City Parliament itself.

To ensure strategic management of public finances in the long term, the City Council also prepares a financial plan.

In recent years, the City Council of Lugano, faced with a significant decline in tax revenue from the banking sector, has been engaged in an important effort to consolidate public finances, thanks to which the accounts returned to substantial balance in 2017.

The rating agency Moody’s confirmed in April 2024 the credit rating assigned to the City of Lugano: for the eighth consecutive year, the City received an Aa3 rating with a stable outlook, a level that falls within a high-quality range. Moody's assessment was prepared based on the analysis of the 2023 financial statements and the initial information relating to the 2024 management.

The 2023 financial statements of the City of Lugano closed with an operating surplus of 12.4 million Swiss francs, a significant improvement compared to the budgeted deficit. The result achieved during the 2023 fiscal year highlights the City's ability to achieve positive results even in a complex context. Inflationary pressures, restrictive monetary policies, and a geopolitical scenario further aggravated by the Middle East crisis constituted a difficult and challenging reference panorama. Considering the situation of uncertainty, the City Council maintained the prudential evaluation of the final tax revenue, confirming the expectations defined in the budget (254 million).

For the year 2025, the City Council has estimated in the budget an operating deficit of 23.9 million Swiss francs. The 2025 budget has taken into account the repercussions deriving from difficult international political relations and the changed socio-economic framework that significantly involve all of Europe. The budget also considers the decisions adopted by the Executive to contain the needs in the various sectors of the City's administrative activity.

Budget Accounts

With the budget (in Italian Preventivo), the City Council plans current expenses and investments in anticipation of the fiscal year of reference. It is therefore the dispatch with which the City Council defines the guidelines and the main choices for each function of the municipal administration. With the budget, the municipal tax multiplier (moltiplicatore d'imposta comunale) is also proposed to the City Parliament.

Financial Statements

With the financial statements (in Italian Consuntivo), after the end of the fiscal year of reference, the City Council reports on the actual evolution of current expenses and investments made by the municipal administration and the variations compared to the budget.

Financial Plan

To ensure strategic management of public finances in the long term, the City Council prepares a financial plan (in Italian Piano Finanziario) with forecasts on the evolution of the main economic indicators in future years. The financial plan is submitted for information to the City Parliament. However, unlike the budget and the financial statements, the financial plan does not require approval by the Legislative body.