LOSSES OF €3m FOR MUNICIPALITY OF LIMASSOL

 Filenews 21 October 2020 - by Ioanna Mantziepa

A major economic blow for the local community and the Municipality of Limassol has been caused by the crowning pandemic as everything related to cultural events and events has been cancelled. Indeed, the estimates so far of mayor Nikos Nikolaidis, who speaks to "F", speak of a loss of revenue of up to 3 million euros. With the current situation, with regard to the pandemic, there are thoughts even of postponing the largest event of the municipality, that of carnivals.

Speaking to "F" about the loss of revenue that the Limassol Municipality has had so far, but also how it has been affected by the postponement of major events, Mayor Nikos Nikolaidis says that "this is a social, cultural and of course economic influence. The Limassol Municipality is estimated to lose revenue so far due to the pandemic, which will reach 3 million euros".

Explaining where this loss of revenue of EUR 3 million is derived from. It explained that it concerns the loss of rights to use premises, parking charges, reduced receipts of fees and taxes due. "All of this has forced us to revise the budget, to try to compensate for all this loss of revenue with reductions in tyre costs, which is not easy," he noted, stressing that "we expect that there will also be the relevant state assistance so that we can balance our budget."

Mr. Nikolaidis explained at the same time that in addition to the cancellations of the cultural events that cost Limassol, there were also major events such as the Wine Festival, theatrical performances and the coming Carnivals as the signs are not very good in terms of their organization. He also noted that postponing the events also cost a portion of people of culture. "The Municipality has tried through various events, such as the online performances of Pattichios, to support these people who are going through a difficult period".

Regarding the economic movements of the municipality and the next steps, Mr. Nikolaidis noted that "we have made a revised budget. We are currently preparing the budget for 2021. Our effort is to keep development projects and especially projects related to the development of districts. We will keep all this alive," he explains, stressing that "we will not let this pandemic have a cost to the development of the districts that were our goal."

Another important aspect is that the Limassol Municipality, as Nikos Nikolaidis says, continues to provide social care services either through existing programmes or even through new programmes. "It is very important at this juncture that the Municipality does not degrade social services but upgrade them because the needs of society and vulnerable groups are much greater because of the pandemic"

Asked about the cuts made by the municipality as the budget was revised, Mr Nikolaidis explained that cuts had been made where it was deemed that there were no absolute needs. "The effort is not to cut projects and costs that have an increased social benefit."

Asked to report to "F" some of them, he noted that these relate to the reduction of overtime, projects related to the upgrading of the building infrastructure of the municipality. "These are expenditures that can be expected after 2021."

Thoughts on postponing carnivals

Regarding the holidays as well as the big carnival event, the mayor pointed out that "the goal of the municipality is for the spirit of Christmas to be as intense as possible because this time the people need it, even more so".

With regard to Carnivals, he noted that the city council will take decisions towards the end of October, as this is also the time when preparations for Carnivals usually begin. "I am afraid that our decision will be a decision that cannot be taken into account. It will be taken by the city council and we will have studied first all aspects of any decision either for or against this great event."