Orihuela Costa is ruled by politicians from Orihuela 35 kms away. Orihuela use to be enormous but as the politicians of Orihuela have treated badly those places far away from Orihuela city, many of which have segregated from Orihuela at about 5 per century.
Orihuela is slowly and increasingly becoming smaller but still thinks it rules the world and spends money without control. With this enormous expenditure and lack of income from old Orihuela, Orihuela depends on Orihuela Costa for 60% of its budget; however spends only around 20% on Orihuela Costa.
Over the last 5 years, with different governments, Orihuela has not had a budget. A budget is compulsory but this is Orihuela, a place where the abnormal is the normality. The main problem with Orihuela is trust.
No one trusts those politicians 35 kms away. Another main problem is that we do not know how much money we owe, we spend, and how much is in the bank. Orihuela Politicians say now that we have €2 million debt and €60 million in the bank. But if this is true, why the need to borrow 40 million euros as planned?
We do not believe our politicians and neither what the proposals are. About 8 years ago Orihuela got around 10 million euros from Europe to invest in Orihuela centre basically and had to add 10 millions from its own coffers.
So far they have only managed to invest some of that money, although no one can say how much. So if in 8 years they have not managed to invest 20 million euros, will they be able to invest 40 million euros in 6 months, which is what we have time for until the end of the year?
To assess the budget we need more information from the Town hall, not mere propaganda. We believe only small projects will be carried out and mainly those in Orihuela Centre.
Next year we should have another budget ( or not ) and again it will come out in April and again for an enormous amount of money and again most projects will not be carried out.
One question we want to ask, is those 40 millions proposed to spend, who is going to pay it and how?
We have been told by borrowing 40 million euros, increasing the taxes and selling more plots to developers, again from Orihuela Costa.
Our experience is that Orihuela will have to depend on building more houses on Orihuela Costa.
Each house built means €4,000 for Orihuela Coffers and the rate is about 1100 houses per year so it means 4 millions euros coming from Orihuela Costa.
Each year around 3000 houses are sold and bought and each time is about €2000 to Orihuela or around 6 million euros per year. We have to add the selling of plots from Orihuela Costa which last time meant more than 15 million euros.
So over 10 years we will put more than 150 million euros to Orihuela but we will only get back less than 30 if we are lucky. The money from the local tax is far superior from Orihuela Costa than the rest of Orihuela based only on the number of houses.
About the commerce, the tax from Orihuela Costa is double than the rest of Orihuela together. With all of this in mind, the proposals for this budget is to build a water deposit (it will be built as it is needed to carry out building at a rate of 1100 new houses per year and are 20,000 under development), a bridge that will be built over the AP-7, because if something bad happens the Mayor could be liable for not acting.
And little more. The rubbish collection will improve,s if not Europe next year will impose an enormous penalty on Orihuela, and parks will improve but again not clear when and how. As for Orihuela Centre, apart from the municipal budget, the town hall has asked the Valencian Government for help on projects which could be more than 10 million euros.
Orihuela cannot develop all these projects; again it is mere smoke and publicity. What we need is a balanced budget, not for €140 million which is impossible to carry out but for €110 million, with no borrowing money, but using the money we have and prepare the budget for 2025 to be published in January.
We would welcome the allocation of a plot for the new school and for the new Health Centre ( and to pressure the Valencian government to carry out these buildings), the bridge over the AP-7, and to complete the path along the coast with a bridge, which will be less expensive and faster and would be a tourist attraction itself.
Instead of focusing on mega-projects for the city, we would welcome sorting out the parks and gardens, the roads, the accessibility for people with mobility problems, the rubbish collection and the necessary Emergency services.
First put our house in order. To build a Cultural Centre with enclosed auditorium, Library, Music, Dance, Language schools and Exhibition centre. There is no need for more museums in Orihuela Centre, which already has more than cities with a million inhabitants and are scarcely visited.
But we need a Mediterranean Museum for Orihuela Costa, showing what we have on offer. We need an Industrial park and a Cemetery.
So, are we positive about this budget? No.
Those politicians will do what they have done for centuries, which is to exploit those places far away, to promise lots and deliver very little.
In one year, we will see a lot of money spent on Orihuela City whilst very little spent on our town, Orihuela Costa.
Make no mistake. We are growing at a rate of 1200 people per year and in 10 years we will have more people registered in Orihuela Costa than in the rest of Orihuela.
The only way to see a proper investment in our town is to register into the Padron and get ready to vote. Only when those politicians see that we can get Councillors and challenge Orihuela City, will they sort out our problems.
Do you want to live in a paradise (we already live in a potential one) with proper municipal services?
Do you want your houses properly valued? Then fight for it. It you stay idle, Orihuela Costa will continue in the chaos we are living.
Regarding how to improve the services, we would give the status of “Ente Local Menor “ to hamlets which are big enough to control themselves (if they were villages on their own, they would have more and better services) such as Arneva, La Aparecida, Molins, San Bartolome, Torremendo, and the Independence to Orihuela Costa, as it is better for Orihuela to grow with an equal than with a slave.
Other hamlets should have greater autonomy using the District Boards. In this way, everyone would win, sharing services with those better positioned, for instance, Orihuela Costa sharing projects with Torrevieja and Pilar but with Independence.
Is it possible to live in Paradise with proper services? Yes! But we all need to register on to the Padron and get ready to vote.
With 6 Councillors, we could be part of the government, with 9 we could be Independant.
Which Orihuela Costa do you want ?
