As forecast by the PIOC some months ago, despite a pre-election promise by the Partido Popular that they would not raise taxes, Orihuela looks likely to become the latest of several municipal councils to announce increases in the local waste collection rate.
On Thursday, the mayor, Pepe Vegara, said that the increase would be in respect of waste collection only, but he was not yet able to give any indication of how much it would be. He said that he will delay the decision as much as possible and that the rate will be determined once the new budgets are known.
The Partido Popular promised in its electoral campaign that it would not raise taxes, “but now we all know that the Urban Waste tax must be raised, because the law forces us to ensure that the user is the one who covers the total cost of the service,” explained the Oriolano mayor.
Even so, he let it be known that this will not happen immediately. He said that the government’s intention is to stretch the decision for as long as possible so as to exhaust the legal deadlines. “The Council is going to wait until there is no choice other than to raise taxes so that the public are as comfortable as possible,” the mayor reiterated.
The problem that forces the region’s councils to apply an increase in garbage rates, which in Orihuela was set back in 2003, lies fundamentally in this new tax. The newly implemented tax obliges regional Consortiums to tax those municipalities that dump higher rates of improper waste, that is, those that carry more unrecycled garbage, the objective being to encourage the user to recycle.
In his announcement to the press, the mayor, made no mention about any increase to IBI, although the temptation is there. There are many neighbouring municipalities also governed by the PP that have decided to raise this main tax, which is the main source of income for the town councils.
