Whenever a major public concert is announced, the question inevitably comes up: why spend hundreds of thousands of euros on an artist instead of allocating that money to roads, hospitals, schools or social services?
The answer requires understanding how a public budget works. The money made available to a municipality does not necessarily belong to one single large fund from which the administration can freely withdraw.
In the case of major New Year’s Eve events in Sardinia, a significant portion of the funding in fact comes from regional funds with a specific purpose: organising events of tourist interest.
For years, the Regione Sardegna has funded major events through Regional Law No. 7 of 1955, legislation designed to support initiatives capable of promoting the image of the island, generating tourist flows and producing economic benefits for local areas.
For the New Year’s Eve celebrations that will see out 2026 and welcome 2027, the Regional Tourism Department has also confirmed that municipalities will be able to apply for grants specifically intended for organising New Year’s Eve events.
The purpose declared by the Regione is to use New Year’s Eve as a tool for tourism promotion and seasonal adjustment, attracting visitors to Sardinia during the winter months as well.
This means that a grant awarded for a major event cannot simply be taken by the municipality and used, for example, to resurface a road or fund a hospital department.
These are completely different purposes, funded through different budget items, programmes and procedures.
Regional funding does not automatically become money freely available to the municipality.
Regional procedures require the beneficiary to submit a project and a financial plan and, after the event, report the expenses actually incurred.
The general rules applied in 2026 to grants for events of tourist interest provide for checks on the reasonableness of expenses, accounting documentation and a distinction between eligible and ineligible costs.
The Regione may also recalculate or revoke the grant when the required conditions are not met. Disbursement is linked to the correspondence between the expenses reported and those approved.
In other words, giving up the event does not mean that the same funding can automatically be transferred to another community need.
The issue became particularly contentious after the Sassari City Council decided to make an initial commitment of 563,640 euros to secure exclusivity for the artist selected for the next New Year’s Eve.
As we explained in our in-depth article on Sassari’s 2027 New Year’s Eve and the initial allocation for the artist, the event’s total cost is currently estimated at around 1.5 million euros, also taking into account security, the stage, logistics and services.
The final funding structure, however, has not yet been fully established. Part of it will be linked to regional funding for major events, while the municipality is preparing the resources needed to proceed with the organisation.
And this is precisely where a distinction is needed.
Saying that “that money can only be used for New Year’s Eve” is correct when referring to the regional grant earmarked for that purpose.
It is too simplistic, however, if one is referring to the entire budget.
If the municipality decides to add its own resources to the regional funding, that portion comes from the municipal budget and represents a political and administrative decision. It is therefore legitimate to debate whether it is appropriate to invest more or less in the event.
The correct point is a different one: you cannot take the total value of event funding and assume that the same amount would automatically be available for any other public expenditure.
Some of the resources exist precisely because the Regione and the municipality have activated financial instruments intended for that specific purpose.
In regional planning, the concert is not considered merely a musical performance.
The aim is to attract people from other cities and from outside Sardinia, increasing overnight stays, restaurant business, spending in venues, transport use and tourist numbers during a traditionally quieter period of the year.
For New Year’s Eve 2026, the Regione explicitly referred to a “single tourism product” intended to support the hospitality and services sector. This year, the project will be expanded further with a main square in Alghero and television links with the other major cities on the island.
We also discussed this in our in-depth article on New Year’s Eve 2027 between Alghero and Sassari.
Naturally, it remains entirely legitimate to debate whether a major concert really produces benefits proportionate to the expenditure incurred, whether the chosen artist is appropriate, or whether the municipality should contribute a larger or smaller share of its own resources.
This is a political and economic assessment.
It is different to argue that a regional grant intended for tourism promotion can simply be redirected to a pothole, a hospital or another municipal service.
Public funding has designated purposes, budget items, eligibility criteria and reporting obligations. A grant awarded to organise New Year’s Eve must be used for the purposes provided for by the funding.
Debating the cost of public events can therefore be useful. But for that debate to be genuinely informed, it must start from a fundamental premise: in a public authority’s budget, not all money is interchangeable.