The Motril Town Hall is set to cut 8,000,000 euros from its budget in order not to raise municipal taxes or be forced to axe jobs, the Vice-Mayor/Councillor for the Economy, José García Fuentes, explained.
The said councillor, accompanied by the Councillor for the Presidency, Alfredo Tovar, and the Head of Municipal Accountancy, Francisco Luis Oliva, said that it had been ‘arduous’ work to come up with these cuts, which are designed to keep Motril in line with austerity measures handed down by the Central Government in Madrid.
Sr. García Fuentes, however, issued the perhaps overused reasoning that much of the problem lies with the actions of the previous administration. As the Mayor was re-elected in the last municipal elections in March, readers could ask themselves how long politicians of any political colour can continue to use such reasoning: when things go right, it’s to the merit of the current government/council, but when they go wrong, it’s the fault of the previous administration.
“You can’t spend more than you earn, which is why our objective is to obtain a budget balance, by cutting back 7.8m euros; i.e., 15% of the total annual budget of 52m euros,” explained Sr. García Fuentes.
How the Town Council intends to raise its tax revenue includes a deal with the Dirección General de Tráfico; i.e., the Guardia Civil Traffic Department, as well as including in the IBI (property tax) register properties that are scattered in urban areas, previously not included. As this tax includes the rubbish-collection services, which for evident reasons won’t be available to such dwellings, this might cause, if not legal problems, certain social ones.
As far as cuts to existing service departments, the majority is aimed at salary bonuses, as well as not hiring temporary workers to cover staff off sick. Posts will not be filled when left vacant through retirement. Furthermore, the working week for staff will be raised to 37.5 hours, thus eliminating overtime.
Finally, there will be a 15% cut in the money provided to political parties and 35,000 euros cut from the money allotted to ‘cargos de confianza;’ i.e., jobs for the boys. This is coupled to a 2.4m cut from ‘activities and subventions.’
3rd May 2012
