The plenary session of the Guardamar Council has approved the 2022 budget amounting to 19.1 million euros, the highest in the history of the municipality.
The municipal accounts were approved with a simple majority of the PSOE and its mayor José Luis Sáez – who has 11 councillors – despite the abstention of the PP (4), IU (1) and Cs (1).
The Partido Popular has announced that it will present arguments for provisional approval, so if any of them is technically accepted, the Corporation will have to debate them again in a new plenary session.
One of the most outstanding features of the budget is the striking increase in spending on personnel, which is forecast at 12 million euros, one million euros more than the last approved budget, which represents 60% of spending total. The PP say that this is a very high percentage when in other municipalities the average is between 30 and 40% .
However, the increase is attributed to the PP’s opposition to new municipal contracts with public companies, especially the rubbish collection and street cleaning, with Gesnet.
Outstanding debts with banks stands at 2.4 million euros, although the forecast is for it to drop to 1.7 million by the end of the year, with amortization expected over the next twelve months..
The PP say they are dismayed that the budget assumes the arrival of European funds that have not yet been confirmed or appear in the preliminary draft budget.
The Guardamar Council managed the 2021 financial year with budgets carried over from 2020. During the current term, the local council has managed to obtain millions of dollars in subsidies that it has allocated to its enormous archaeological heritage: from the rehabilitation of the castle to the musealsation of the Rábita Califal and the Roman and Islamic remains of the Moncaio beach.
