Lugano: 2027 budget estimates a deficit of 14,7 million

Context

TL;DR

• Lugano forecasts a deficit of 14,7 million
• The result improves by 4,8 million compared with the 2026-2033 plan
• The multipliers remain at 80% and 85%
• Planned net investments amount to 97 million

Key facts

• What → 2027 Budget
• Deficit → 14,7 million francs
• Multipliers → 80% individuals; 85% legal entities
• Net investments → 97 million francs
• Tax-funded requirement → 286,7 million francs

The Municipality of Lugano has approved the 2027 Budget and sent the report to the Municipal Council. A deficit of 14,7 million francs is forecast for current operations. The estimate is more favorable than the one previously formulated, but the financial recovery continues.

Comparison with previous estimates

For 2027, the Financial Plan 2026-2033 indicated a deficit of 19,5 million: the current result is more favorable by 4,8 million. A previous multi-year projection indicated a deficit of 30,1 million, against which the gap reaches 15,4 million. The 2026 Budget, on the other hand, had estimated a deficit of 4,2 million.

On the tax front, the Municipality confirms the tax multipliers. For individuals, the multiplier is set at 80%, while for legal entities it stands at 85%. These are the same levels set for 2026, after a three-percentage-point increase for both categories.

Total planned net investments amount to 97 million francs and also include the balance for the purchase of PalaRaiffeisen, whose payment has been postponed. Ordinary expenses are estimated at 510,8 million, while ordinary revenues amount to 224,1 million; the tax-funded requirement is 286,7 million.

The document already incorporates the financial recovery measures adopted by the Municipality and requested by the Municipal Council. Excluded, however, are the measures that, starting in 2028, will have to neutralize the financial repercussions of the popular votes held in 2025.

Financial recovery continues to be a central issue in the political debate. Last June, the Management Commission had expressed divergent positions regarding the Financial Plan and the methods of financial recovery, including those relating to containing current expenditure and resorting to asset revaluations.

It was also announced at the presentation that the current financial year is trending toward closing with a surplus in current operations. The 2025 Final Accounts had closed the books with a surplus of 23,7 million, compared with a forecast deficit of 24 million; the result was largely due to extraordinary factors.

Operational details

For the cross-border commuter, what is the relevant figure

For those who work across the border and look at the finances of the Canton of Ticino, the message should be read as a document on the municipal budget of Lugano, not as a new individual rule. The figure of 14,7 million describes the City's current operations: it is neither an amount attributed to a cross-border commuter nor a figure that the source links to a single tax.

The scope of the news

The only explicit tax-related figure is the confirmation of the municipal multipliers: 80% for individuals and 85% for legal entities. The correct comparison is therefore with 2026, when both had been increased by three points, not with a personal situation reconstructed without other information. The source does not provide taxable income, individual tax, municipality of residence or a calculation by taxpayer category. It therefore does not make it possible to estimate how the tax burden of an individual reader would change.

The message does not address permit G, AVS, LPP, LAMal, tax rebates, withholding tax or double taxation. For a cross-border commuter, this distinction is material: the text speaks of the City's financial consolidation and of covering the funding needs through taxes, but does not announce changes to these cross-border items.

The difference between the projections helps to convey the tone of the document. The expected deficit is smaller than in the two previous scenarios, but remains a deficit; it does not become a surplus merely because it is lower than 19,5 or 30,1 million. Likewise, the surplus expected for the current financial year does not eliminate the measures still to be defined from 2028 onward. The source in fact points to an estimated annual burden of 22,9 million and a rebalancing to be addressed over the 2028-2030 period. The cross-border commuter can therefore use the Budget to understand the trajectory of the City's finances, not to infer on their own the effects on cross-border taxation.

Key points

How to follow the dossier without conflating different levels

For a cross-border worker who wants to understand whether the Budget contains an immediate consequence, the most prudent approach is to follow the process and keep the timeframes indicated in the message separate. The steps communicated make it possible to distinguish what has already been submitted from the measures that will be put forward later.

1. Start from the status of the act. The Municipality has approved the 2027 Budget and transmitted it to the Municipal Council. It is therefore advisable to distinguish the municipal approval from the transmission of the message, without attributing further decisions to the text. 2. Note the first deadline. By the end of the year, the Municipality will receive from the Financial Rehabilitation Committee proposals aimed at making municipal activities more efficient. The text describes these proposals as interventions concerning municipal activities and does not specify individual measures for cross-border workers. 3. Keep 2027 separate from what follows. During 2027, proposals aimed at reviewing the areas and priorities of the City's action will be presented. The measures to offset, starting in 2028, the financial effects of the popular votes held in 2025 are not yet included in the Budget. 4. This step helps distinguish the figures in the document from the measures still under discussion.

What data can be used

For an orderly reading, it is advisable to note separately the projected deficit, the multipliers, net investments and the deadlines for the financial rehabilitation. It is not correct to add the expected result for the current financial year to the 2027 Budget, nor to use the 2025 Final Accounts as an automatic forecast: those accounts had closed with a surplus of 23,7 million, compared with a budgeted deficit of 24 million, largely due to extraordinary factors.

The source does not indicate forms, applications, personal documents or procedures to be submitted for a cross-border worker. The message therefore does not offer an individual simulation. If the goal is to turn the multiplier figure into a simulation of your own tax situation, use calcolatore fiscale.

Source: ticinonews.ch