The plenary of the municipal corporation approved last Monday, 19th July, in an extraordinary session, the accounts for 2022. The budgets are 7.79 per cent higher than last year's, reaching 111,235,540.99 euros. This is the third budget of this mandate, marked by the pandemic, which has "that vocation not only of public service but to continue improving" the city and in which "municipal taxes froze for another year," said the Mayor of Mijas, Josele Gonzalez (PSOE).

These budgets position Mijas as the third city in the province, which "continues to grow in services' '. In addition, González highlighted the "social service vocation" of the accounts. The funds allocated increased between 18 and 40 per cent. Housing, social emergency, family economic, and rental aid were increased, and 41 per cent for policies aimed at the elderly, too. "They have had such a hard time in the last two years and need the attention of their Town Hall at the same time, and for that reason, economic resources are necessary", he added.

The Councillor also highlighted the 12% increase in the budget for sports and the 70% increase in environmental policies. The other pillar of the budget for the Mayor is public works, with examples such as the swimming pool in La Cala, which is under construction and will be open to the public "very soon". There is, he added, the "commitment to move forward with pending projects", such as the 'Los Santos' car park and the 'Venta La Morena' roundabout. "Also, the road widening that connects Entrerríos with La Cala de Mijas. The one connecting 'Venta La Morena' with the Mijas Golf urbanisation and by the road that already connects Sector 31 with the road to Coín. Moreover, Miguel Hernández avenue, and at the same time, the long-awaited work on the Campanales road, which we hope will start in the coming months".

He also highlighted the elderly residence construction's commitment and the fire station plus the recruitment of 1,000 Mijeños through the Basic Income program as an example of spending planned in these budgets.

Government team's presentation

"The rigorous economic management that we are carrying out allows us to continue presenting expansive budgets that guarantee the improvement of municipal services. Helping people and investing in improving infrastructures, our streets, and our neighbourhoods are equally important", explained Roy Pérez (PSOE), the councillor for the Treasury. He was in charge of defending the budgets. For the First Deputy Mayor and spokesman for Cs, José Carlos Martín, these budgets are "in line with last year". "We continue to have zero debt, surplus, and a balanced budget. The most important thing is that we have no tax burden. In the last seven budgets approved in this municipality, there has been no increase in the tax burden," added Martín.

The Finance Councillor outlined some of the most important items, including social spending and the improvement of services such as cleaning, with an investment of 9.8 million euros following the new contract "of 87.9 million euros and a period of 10 years". "The improvement in the provision of this service was a commitment of the Mayor and this government team, and it is now a reality," he said.

Investments were also key to the government team's presentation, as they amount to 7.5 million euros, said Pérez. "Of these, 4.3 million are for work  investment, but if we add this to the budget modification we made a few months ago, we are talking about an investment of almost 50 million euros. Some 24 million are out to tender, and 14 million have already been awarded and are close to executing," Martín pointed out.

Votes

The Social Services budget approved as unlimited, the increase in other items such as energy efficiency (3.2 million euros) and sport (4.1 million euros) are other key elements of this budget. According to the government team, it complements the budget amendment of 78.1 million euros approved in April. The Finance Councillor pointed to the approval of the capital gains law in January as one of the reasons why the accounts have been taken to an extraordinary plenary session this month. It also approved the maximum non-financial joint expenditure limit for the budget of the City Council and its companies, known as the expenditure ceiling, which amounts to 103,429,000 euros, and the municipal staff for this financial year. Both points approved with the votes of the government team and the abstention of the other Councillors, while the budgets approved in favour of the government team (PSOE-Cs), against the PP and the non-attached Councillors Esperanza Jiménez and Carlos Rivero, and the abstention of the non-attached Councillor Juan Carlos Maldonado.

PP reaction

The PP voted against this budget, considering it is very late, unlike other nearby municipalities such as Fuengirola or Marbella, which approved their accounts in December, according to the PP. PP Councillor Mario Bravo affirmed that "the modification of the capital gains ordinance is no excuse for Mijas to present its 2022 budget in July".

Bravo also recalled the budget had an unfavourable report from the financial controller and assured that the document "has not been agreed with the opposition groups". He also criticised some of the economic items allocated, such as subsidies to Mijas groups, "for which a wider criteria should be established". Regarding the Vehicle Fleet's budget, he considered the figures "high considering that there are many official cars parked". He disagreed about the economic effort devoted to projects' drafting "that are left done and have to be reviewed the following year or the next because the regulations are changing".

In this respect, the Cs spokesman described it as "the right method" to have projects drafted "because, to access many subsidies, including Next Generation, the council is asked to have projects that can be made available quickly, without waiting for them to be drafted".

The Popular Party also regretted that the 2022 budget does not include economic items to provide a solution to the coastal erosion, the cleaning of urbanisations, the maintenance of the Mijas Sierra and the Hippodrome or the second Mijas Pueblo car park. Regarding this last project, the government team clarified that the Junta de Andalucía, specifically the Consejería de Cultura (led by the PP), has kept the proposal for the extension of this space "stalled" for six years. "The Partido Popular cannot give an example on the issue of parking in the town because in their day they could have solved this problem, and did not do so", concluded the Finance Councillor.

Esperanza Jiménez, the non-attached Councillor, presented seven amendments that were not successful, including the request to incorporate two ambulances to provide service to Mijas Pueblo and La Cala. Given the refusal to allow her proposals to go ahead, the Councillor stated that "for us, it reflects the distance of the current management of the Town Hall from the real, urgent and concrete problems we have in Mijas". Pérez reminded him, "it is unlikely that this Town Hall will ever do the things you are asking for because they are not municipal competencies. I think we would all like to have more ambulances, but that is the responsibility of the Junta de Andalucía".

Finally, Rivero declared, "the present budget should have included amendments to the municipal ordinance to allow for a greater tax reduction, and a greater reduction in the tax percentage and, in this way, reduce the tax burden borne by the residents".

Martín reminded him that taxes "are frozen, and this gives an idea that the economic management carried out earnestly and strictly allowing this type of action", he said.

Share it with this link: https://mijasint.com/?a=24807