The Council of Tenerife It contributes four million euros to update the prices of dependency places and improve the service provided to the elderly and dependent people. An extraordinary plenary session of the Island Corporation approved this measure, which helps to respond to the cost overruns of spaces in centers managed by third sector entities, within the Dependency Agreement with the Government of the Canary Islandsensuring that quality care is provided.
This action stands out among the 125,324,087 euros of the remaining treasury for the 2022 financial year destined, in large part, to various social actions. Of this total amount, 64 million will be to modify the contribution to investment projects and thus not have to formalize the long-term loan operation with the banks, which will favor execution. The rest of the amount will be used to finance actions planned for this year in practically all areas of the Island Corporation and its public sector.
The Minister of Social Action, Marián Franquet, explains that this increase includes this additional item to reinforce the transport service to the centers that are co-financed by the Cabildo de Tenerife and the Government of Canary Islands. At the request of third sector entities, the PSOE You have increased your budget by 10%. Meanwhile, the regional Executive will contribute 12 million more to cover the cost overruns in dependence on the Islands as a whole. The collaboration between both administrations will allow us to have nine million more to finance the aforementioned Dependency Agreement in Tenerife, which goes from 107.5 million to 116.6.
Answer. The island president, Pedro Martín, explains that with this measure, the Cabildo de Tenerife contributes to updating the prices of the places included in the Dependency Agreement 2021-2023, with the purpose of attending and giving an adequate response to the extra costs per place and day derived from the increase in inflation, as well as from the update of the salaries of the personnel of the entities that provide these services. It is about guaranteeing that the users of the socio-sanitary centers are cared for in the best conditions. In this sense, Pedro Martín highlights the work and dedication of the third sector entities that manage the elderly and dependency places, whose work is essential to meet the demand for socio-sanitary care in quality conditions.
Demand. The island councilor for Social Action, Marián Franquet, explains that the Cabildo de Tenerife, hand in hand with the Government of the Canary Islands, “has taken a very important step.” It is about covering “a demand from the entities that manage dependency resources, external or from the IASS itself or other companies”. In this sense, she alludes to the fact that “the price of dependency places had to be updated. That is to say, what we pay for each person that is attended in the entire network of the Island”. That amount had been well below the actual costs. Franquet assesses: “We were in a fairly extreme situation with the risk of having to close or stop providing some services.” Now, with this economic injection, he points out, “we can update prices and guarantee good care for the elderly or dependents on the Island.”
Increase. The increase in the financing of the Dependency Agreement will allow third sector entities to face the rise in the general costs of maintenance and management –electricity, water, food, etc.– of the centers and attend to the updating of the salaries of your personal. The island councilor highlights that, within the increase in the approved budget, an item is included, for the first time, to reinforce the transport service to day centers, increasing the available budget by 10%, a service that until now covered them exclusively the Autonomous Community.
Execution. Aarón Afonso, insular director of Coordination and Support for the President, had a special role in yesterday’s plenary session, perhaps a preview of what can happen in the future. He explained that “the percentages of budget execution during this mandate have been similar to those of previous ones. But with a difference, and that is that the net resources executed have been much higher ». Thus, “in 2022 there was the largest budget execution that has ever existed in the Cabildo de Tenerife. 858 million euros were invested, almost 150 more than in the best budget year (2018) of the previous term. Afonso highlighted the importance of the destination of the investment “in necessary policies for the citizens of Tenerife. For us, the employmentattending to dependency or assisting vulnerable individuals and families has been a necessary priority to structure and unite society.
Regarding the use of the remainder, he clarified that “instead of allocating it to pay the banks, the money will develop policies for the citizens of Tenerife, what the Island needs and, especially, the social majority, resources for dependency, the purchase of buses to improve public transport and social policies».
Childhood. The two sessions had a marked social accent. Thus, the Cabildo proposed the candidacy of Tenerife to renew the Child Friendly City seal. The plenary session approved requesting UNICEF to renew the recognition granted to Tenerife in the period 2018-2023 and “continue working in defense of the rights of children and adolescents and in improving their well-being.”
The ITER, again the center of the debate
The ordinary plenary session in April, held after the monograph on the remainder of the budget -the opposition once again criticized the low general execution- approved the initiative of CC to defend the professionals of the Institute of Technology and Renewable Energies (ITER) and promote the claim for the nine million euros that he calculates for the losses in the Areté and La Roca wind farms. That was what the motion said, although the debate was on the other hand, repeated and repetitive compared to that of a few dates ago in a plenary session on the past management at the Institute. It was also approved to extend social protection to unaccompanied migrant children up to the age of 21 and to support the labor claims of the staff of the Hoteles Escuelas de Canaria. Sí Podemos saw its only motion approved in this plenary session: the preservation of the coastline of La Punta del Hidalgo, in La Laguna. | JDM
