Balanced, without initial deficit and adjusted to the municipal reality. This is how the Councilor for Economic Progress of Puerto de la Cruz, Carolina Rodríguez, defined this year’s City Council budget, which was approved alone by the government group (PSOE-ACP).
The 2022 account reaches 38,337,476 euros, an increase of 5.72% compared to last year and continues to prioritize the Social area and measures that promote the economic recovery that “the city has experienced in recent months,” said Rodríguez.
The budget was debated during a telematic plenary session in which the local Executive failed to convince the two opposition groups to give it their support. Both PP and CC voted against. The first presented an amendment to the entirety, requested that it be returned and redrafted taking into account the guidelines established in article 168 of the Law Regulating Local Finance. The second proposed twelve, all rejected, to cancel items that, he understands, do not have to be budgeted or with closed expenses, such as the water supply service, and thus be able to meet the real needs of the neighbors.
The mayor stressed that the accounts of the tourist city collect a forecast for this exercise in a scenario that is still uncertain given the advance of the COVID-19 pandemic, so, as in 2021, it has opted for continuity and prudence.
“They are coherent and prudent accounts with the current scenario, although they are also hopeful that 2022 will mean the definitive end of this health crisis that has brought so many uncertainties and setbacks for our main industry, which is tourism,” he declared. In this sense, he broke down some of the amounts that are contemplated for the attention of social needs, such as 40,000 euros for the homeless; 170,000 for the application of aid to families, 12,000 euros for the Municipal Childhood Plan; 8,000 for Volunteering and 28,000 for Youth.
The budget also includes the legislative commitments with the 2% increase in the salaries of public workers, 120,000 euros to reinforce the local Police service, the subrogation of eight Pamarsa employees and the specific productivity supplement that goes from 200,000 to 50,000 euros.
However, the biggest criticism of the opposition was that the real needs of the citizens are not met. The spokesmen for PP and CC, Pedro González and Sandra Rodríguez, respectively, agreed on the economic document “it arrives late and badly”, without time to debate it “and without clear planning or the services that will be prioritized.”
They also responded to Carolina Rodríguez her statements regarding the financial situation of the City Council. “This year we are living on the income and the inheritance of the past term,” said the nationalist councilor, who, like her PP counterpart, reproached the PSOE-ACP for the “excess” of events and festive acts “when they have not been Once the housing renovation aid was processed, the groups were not given the subsidies and the two annuities were not paid to the José Luis Montesinos Canarian Foundation ”, in charge of distributing basic food to those who need it most.
“The budget project that is intended to be approved is the same as nothing, prepared without any kind of political effort. It does not reflect any forecast for a year that seems complicated, it does not obey any plan or any priority except events and celebrations, “said Pedro González.
The liquidation of Pamarsa: a lack of “absolute” foresight, according to the PP
Pedro González described the liquidation of the public company Pamarsa and its projection in the 2022 budget as “an absolute lack of foresight”. The spokesman criticized the departure of 1.2 million of the works carried out by Pamarsa in Lago Martiánez. “Don’t you remember that this company should no longer exist in two months? How are they going to budget the same as last year? ”He asked. “Either the Government is not going to comply with the legal mandate and is already warning us in the budget, or what is even more serious, that it has forgotten this circumstance when preparing it,” he concluded.
