The mayor of Icod de los Vinos, Francis Gonzalez (CC), underlines the importance of this budget modification, recently approved in plenary session, “since it allows us to add 2.6 million euros more to the investment chapter, which already had 2.5 million, and allows us to reach a figure which I consider historical ”. More than 5 million euros in investments that are already being developed, which will begin to be developed in the remainder of 2021 and which will also continue in subsequent years.
Among the most relevant investments, González highlights the 154,556 euros to finish the Youth House and recover the house of the poet Emeterio Gutiérrez Albelo, or the 170,000 euros reserved for the completion of the Parque del Drago Visitor Center, «given the limited predisposition that we have seen in other administrations to collaborate in this project ». The 170,000 municipal euros are added to the 400,000 euros contributed by the Government of the Canary Islands. These 570,000 euros will be used to finish the entire part of the building that remains below ground. Later, more funds will have to be sought for “the entire museum endowment of this center.”
In the land area of Playa de San Marcos another important investment effort is foreseen, “in view of the fact that the rehabilitation of the premises could be left out of the agreement, probably due to indications from Costas.” For that urban part, the Icod Council will allocate 920,000 euros to this action, “to which it would be necessary to add 720,000 euros more to improve the promenade and the beach roads.” More than 1.6 million for the land area of this coastal nucleus.
Regarding the Municipal Cooperation Plan 2018-2021, of the Cabildo de Tenerife, there will be another contribution of 274,000 euros for the improvement of the water supply and sanitation networks. An additional 100,000 euros are dedicated to improving the cemetery; 132,000 euros more for the improvement of public nursery and primary schools, or 150,000 euros to add to the 300,000 euros of the Government of the Canary Islands for the municipal market.
“In short, we added 2.6 million euros to the municipal investment in 2021, which already had an item of 2.5 million, so the global sum exceeds 5.1 million euros in investments with own funds. For this year and, in addition, with time to execute it beyond December 31. I don’t think that such a large number has been available in the past. ‘
The incorporation of 5 of the 16 million in savings that the City Council of ICO has managed to gather in recent years will also serve to offer a record amount of scholarships for students from early childhood education to university: 300,000 euros that will increase with the contributions planned for the 2022 budget. “It is a push, regardless of what will come next year,” insisted the nationalist president. His forecast is, once a historical maximum has been surpassed, “to take another important step in the next financial year.”
González adds that the City Council has been able to make this significant increase in public investments thanks to the fact that the economic management of recent years has allowed, for example, to reduce in 2020 the debt that the City Council had with the banks by more than 4 million euros . “That, together with the relaxation of the national rules of public spending, has allowed us to use the money we had for investment and social action,” he says.
One million to help companies
The City Council of Icod de los Vinos has approved an item of 850,000 euros to help companies and self-employed persons in the municipality who are going through difficult times due to the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The mayor, Francis González (CC), emphasizes that “after analyzing the involvement and aid of other administrations, such as the State or the Autonomous Community, and clearing up the doubts that existed among municipal technicians, we have found the formula to allocate more aid the local economic sector in its broadest sense, since the primary sector is also included, as well as the commercial sector and the rest of entrepreneurs and the self-employed ». The Icodense Government (CC-Cs) has already collected an item of 150,000 euros in the initial budget for 2021, which is now completed with another 850,000 euros to reach one million euros. Now it is pending to approve the bases for the distribution of these funds among local businessmen, “with a minimum and a maximum established according to technical criteria and the number of applications submitted.” Francis González considers that this investment is “one of the most important gestures that a municipality with the population weight of Icod de los Vinos has made in the Canary Islands”, which currently has 23,316 residents. | RS
