The Mijas Town Hall government team approved, in the plenary session held last Friday, a budget amendment from the budget carried over from 2021, amounting to 78.1 million euros which, according to the Mayor of the town, Josele González (PSOE), will allow "to go ahead with projects that we understand are necessary, that's what we politicians are for, this government team is not to stand idly by".
Of the total amount, 61.6 million euros will go to investments that the government team considers important. "We have many projects ahead of us, such as the Olympic swimming pool in La Cala, the Sports Centre extension, whose work is going to be resumed. Also, the large park project, the Coastal Path extension, the Camino de Campanales, the bridges connecting the Camino de Coín with Cerros del Águila and the racecourse, Los Santos public car park, as well as starting up activities related to the festivities and traditions of the municipality, improving the cleaning and image of the municipality. Besides, the municipal infrastructures and municipal schools, as well as municipal infrastructure and children's schools," explained the Councillor to justify the budget amendment, which he said "is not a government team's whim" and added that "each of the cents that are within this amendment is intended to items that will improve the Mijas people's lives". The Councillor affirmed that "it is a tool that allows administrations, such as ours, to take on new projects, activities and aid that come to revitalise a municipality as large as Mijas, especially in a context as complex as the current one, after two pandemic years, and in the face of the current crisis.
The measure was presented as an urgent matter and approved with the votes in favour of the government team. "A budget amendment was introduced. It is going to be an essential tool for implementing all those projects and services which are pending provision and which with this amendment will be promoted," said the Treasury Councillor, Roy Pérez (PSOE), who justified this mechanism and explained that "150,000 euros will be allocated to chapter 1 [Personnel]; 150,000 euros to chapter 2 [Expenditure]; 150,000 euros to chapter 3 [Expenditure]; 150,000 euros to chapter 4 [Expenditure]; 150,000 euros to chapter 5 [Expenditure]; and 150,000 euros to chapter 5 [Expenditure]. 150,000 euros; to chapter 2 [Current Expenses], 12.7 million euros; to chapter 3 [Financial Expenses], 2.7 million euros; to chapter 4 [Aid and Subsidies], 820,942 euros; and to chapter 6, investments, which is where most of the economic provisions to promote these investment projects corresponds to 61.6 million euros". Pérez said that as in previous budgets, the amendment has "two very marked aspects: on the one hand, the improvement and provision of new infrastructure and, secondly, increased investment in social and cultural matters, so that the neediest families can count on the support of their closest administration".
The First Deputy Mayor and spokesperson for the Ciudadanos Municipal Group, José Carlos Martín, underlined that "this modification allows us to cover such important work lines as putting an end to the sanitation problems in Mijas Pueblo. We cannot forget such important municipality mobility connections as the Camino de Coín widening and the A-387", said Martín. He added that "after six years of hard work, the Great Costa del Sol Park now sees a first budget item of 4.5 million euros".
The debate
The opposition criticised the lack of time to analyse the proposal. The PP and the non-attached Councillor Carlos Rivero voted against, while the non-attached Councillors Esperanza Jiménez and Juan Carlos Maldonado abstained. "We cannot ratify this way of doing things, no matter how much we agree with some of the expenses that appear here. It is logical that this corporation continues to move forward and do things, but not like this", said the popular Councillor Mario Bravo.
In the same vein, Rivero, referring to the Intervention report that "highlights some anomalies", justified his position by saying that "this amendment brings a simple definition of the item to increase the credit, but is not accompanied by a justification. Therefore, I can not vote for this amendment.
Martín replied to Bravo that "what we are bringing are the municipality investments, in infrastructures that generate employment, stimulate the economy, and which in the end, make a municipality quality leap compared to others. Many of these investments have been asked about by your group colleagues during this time [referring to the PP]".
For his part, Jiménez criticised the government team "we have had no time to present an amendment. Hopefully, we can reach an understanding one day".
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