This Monday, December 2, the Vila Nova de Famalicão municipal executive approved the municipal budget for 2025, the largest ever in the history of the Famalicão municipality's accounts: 219 million euros.
Presenting the main lines of the document to the media, the Mayor, Mário Passos, explained that this budget reflects the municipal executive's desire to ‘always do more and better for Famalicão and the people of Famalicão’. 

‘This is a budget that allows us to be better today than yesterday and better tomorrow than today,’ said the mayor. 

Looking at the evolution of the municipal budget since 2021, when the current executive took office, there has since been an increase of around 60 per cent, from a budget of 136.5 million euros in 2021 to a budget of 219 million in 2025. 

‘An increase that demonstrates the capacity we've had in recent years to materialise structuring projects for the day-to-day lives of Famalicenses, but also the capacity we've had to provide ourselves with the means to realise them, namely with EU funding,’ which, he explained, ’is not achieved by luck, but by hard work on the part of the City Council, which has worked to the maximum to take advantage of all the funding opportunities that arise.’ In this regard, it should be noted that in this mandate alone, the municipality has already raised more than 170 million euros in funding. 

Famalicão enters 2025 with a record investment of more than 77 million euros - an increase of 98 per cent compared to 2024 - especially in the areas of the Environment, Housing, Education, Health, Sport, Roads and Accessibility.

This is the case with the construction of the Athletics Centre, the new Famalicão Municipal Swimming Pools, and a series of interventions in the municipality's school park, in particular the intervention at the Padre Benjamim Salgado Secondary School in Joane. In terms of health, the municipality also has a series of structural interventions underway and yet to be launched to improve primary health care in the municipality: in São Miguel-o-Anjo, Joane, USF Urbana, USF do Vale do Este and UCSP Ruivães e Landim. Also noteworthy is the completion of the Sinçães Norte Park, the start of construction of the Queimados Park, the set of road network improvement works, with interventions on Municipal Roads 572, 562, 571 and 571-1, Avenida Marechal Humberto Delgado, and the construction of a new roundabout on the Intermunicipal Road linking to Mogege, among others. Also noteworthy is the start of the contract to complete the water supply network, the extension of the sewage network and the construction of the new car park next to the USF Urbana. 

The municipal budget for 2025, which points to a current balance of more than 2.8 million euros, thus confirming the municipality's budget balance, also provides for an increase in direct support granted to parishes: 8.4 million euros, compared to 6.7 million in 2024.

All this is underpinned by solid accounts, with Mário Passos recalling the data from the latest edition of the Financial Yearbook, which places the Municipality of Famalicão in the Top 10 of the most efficient large municipalities in the country, being the eighth Portuguese municipality with the best score in the ranking of the 2023 edition of the study.

Tax dossier brings IMI reduction in 2025

The year 2025 will be marked in Vila Nova de Famalicão by a drop of half a percentage point in the Municipal Property Tax (IMI).

This is already the second reduction in IMI since Mário Passos took over as mayor of Famalicão. The rate, which fell from 0.35 to 0.34 in 2023, will now fall to 0.335 in 2025.

With these reductions, the municipality has already given up 1.6 million euros, plus the amount it will also give up in 2025 (500,000 euros) by joining the Family IMI scheme, which will further reduce the amount of tax payable by Famalicão families. Thus, families with one dependent will have a deduction of 30 euros in IMI, families with two dependents will have a deduction of 70 euros in municipal tax and families with three or more dependents will have a deduction of 140 euros.

It should also be noted that the municipality's share of personal income tax (IRS) in Famalicão will remain at 4.5 per cent. As for the Municipal Surcharge, the municipality will continue to levy a 1.2 per cent tax on companies' profits, but only for those, whose turnover exceeds 250,000 euros. All others will be exempt.

Also of note is the tariff for the year 2025 for the Public Regular Passenger Transport Service, which remains unchanged.

As far as the environmental bill is concerned, it should also be noted that the Urban Solid Waste Collection tariff will not be increased. The Water Supply and Sanitation tariff will be updated at the inflation rate of 2.1 per cent, which will only apply from the 3rd bracket onwards, which includes large water consumers. According to information from ERSAR, per capita consumption is 131 litres/inhabitant per day, which gives a total monthly consumption of 3.93 m3. This means that the normal water consumer will not be subject to any tariff update.