The municipality of La Laguna will have in this 2023 “the largest budget in its history”, affirms the mayor, Luis Yeray Gutiérrez, who anticipated that the municipal accounts will grow from the 192.5 million of last 2022, in the consolidated, to ” above 220 million” this year, which will mean an estimated increase of around 20%, pending closing the last fringes. The forecast that is being considered from the City Council is to be able to bring the budget to the Plenary in the middle of next month for its approval.
Likewise, the mayor highlighted, from this increase in La Laguna’s accounts, that “we are going to double our investment capacity from 21 to more than 40 million euros, especially in public works.” In this regard, he announced that, specifically, the relative investments in housing, road improvement and public services will increase “notably.”
Thus, Luis Yeray Gutiérrez insisted that it will be about “very expansive” budgets, which will translate into strong public investment, which will contribute to the economic revitalization of the municipality and, therefore, to the generation of employment , consolidating the recovery trend after the pandemic”.
In addition, in the current social and economic context after the pandemic and with the effects of the war in Ukraine, “we of course maintain the main axis of this Government, which are social policies and attention to the people who need it most, with a growth that maintains the upward trend of recent years”.
It should be remembered that already in the accounts of the past 2022 the Social Welfare and Quality of Life Area experienced a 27% increase in its budget compared to 2021, adding an accumulated growth of 51.27% since 2019 and assuming social policies more than 13% of the total budget.
The mayor explained that the economic services of the City Council “are closing the last fringes in the preparation of the document to be able to take it to the Finance Commission and subsequently raise it to the Plenary in mid-February” for debate and approval. The accounts will enter into force once they are published in the BOP and if they do not receive allegations.
The final stage of the elaboration of the budgets for this year coincided with the announcement of the resignation of the until then Councilor for the Treasury and the entry of the new person in charge of the area, Elena García. “I would like to value the work of the new councilor, who has managed to move them forward as soon as possible, with the support of all the staff in the area,” said the mayor.
Growth
The budget for this 2023 continues the path of growth that was already registered in 2022, when it grew by more than 15% compared to 2021, up to 192,564,069 euros in the consolidated, which includes the City Council, autonomous bodies, Muvisa and the Urbanism Management. The current financial year is thus the second consecutive year of budget growth, after the accounts for 2021, with 168.5 million, represented a slight decrease of 3% compared to those for 2020, with 171 million.
