Spending on city council salaries increased by 10%, but staff shortage remains

In the liquidation of the local administration budgets for 2021, the expenditure made by eleven municipalities and provincial organizations in personnel expenditure item was 466,612,800 Euros. On the other hand, if we go to the state budget tables, local assets By 2022, it is seen that these twelve administrations allocated EUR 515,167,949 to the same concept with an average increase of 10,41%. The biggest increase from one year to the next is made by Benidorm, which increased from 35,911,242 Euros to 45,644,194 Euros, which means 27.1% more.

Liquidity

There are municipalities that can catch their cadres this year according to the liquidity in their vaults. In fact, some will take advantage of the current November payroll to balance their numbers. passers-by financial situation Worse still, they know that the deadline to pay the hikes is March 31. Aware of this situation and the impact of factors such as the epidemic, energy crisis or increase in inflation in recent years, the Government of Pedro Sánchez has created a special credit line.

with reference to data, Treasure Looking at the structuring of the last year’s budgets and the progress of the ongoing ones, for example, it is seen that four out of every ten euros entered by the consulates were used to pay the salaries of the employees. The overall salary increase of 3.5 and the expenditure increase of 10.41% is explained by taking into account other variables such as the stabilization of the workforce or the increase in temporary contracts. To prevent all this from creating a black hole in the accounts, especially in the smallest municipal buildings, the department of María Jesús Montero opened up the possibility of requesting a loan from the Local Finance Fund.

With the exception of Benidorm City Council, which had the largest increase in personnel spending between the 2021 liquidation and this year’s budget, the following Councils The provinces with the highest increase were Alicante with 17.42%, Dénia with 15.35%, La Vila Joiosa with 12.07% and Elda with 10.69%. Diputación de Alicante is another of the institutions that barely surpassed the 10% increase in this budget segment, while Torrevieja is tapping into that hurdle by staying at 9.27%.

To reject

A striking example is the case of Orihuela City Council, which allocated €31,380,988 in personnel expenditures in the 2021 liquidation and €30,498,556 in the 2022 budget, representing a reduction of 2.81%. Other consultations small growthThere are high-budget examples such as Elche (232,363.662 Euros) and more modest accounts such as those of Cocentaina (10,642,762 Euros). In the city of Elche, growth was 1.36%, while in the capital of the Comtat region, the increase was 1.62%.

In recent years, the increase in municipal personnel expenditures has been continuous. If the liquidation of the 2014 budget in the same eleven consortia and Diputación is referenced, overall increase reached 32.74% throughout the province. In 2014, 388,107,414 euros were allocated to this chapter, compared to 515,167,949 euros appearing in current budgets. Villena made the biggest increase in these years, from 8,154,743 Euros they reflected in their accounts in 2014 to 13,220,889 Euros (62.13%) they had budgeted for 2022.

The biggest increases recorded in this period after Villena are Dénia (50.9%), Elda (45.27%), Elche (41.83%), Alicante (39.78%), Alcoy (37.78%), Orihuela (34.87%), Benidorm (34.8%), La Vila Joiosa (32.32%), Cocentaina (26.72%) and Torrevieja (19.03%). this Committee Since the personnel expenditure has grown by only 11.89% since 2014, it is behind the provincial municipalities in this segment. While the provincial agency paid 81,042,426 euros to its employees nine years ago, it has budgeted 90,677,247 euros to face the payroll for this 2022 year.

descriptions

They are trying to explain from the municipal councils how they assimilated the wage increase that their workers should receive after the agreement reached between the government and the unions. In the case of Elche, the mayor Financial management, Patricia Macià (PSPV) confirmed that all debts corresponding to the January-October 2022 period will be paid on this month’s payroll, which will require 1.2 million extra effort. This payment will be made by the Emergency Fund, which is used for unforeseen problems.

“We also strengthened our staff and signed more contracts throughout the year,” Macià said, justifying the increase in spending on this part of the budget. Yes, but it should be noted that the increase produced in Elche was very small, barely 1.36%, especially when compared to other consulates such as Alicante, where the increase was 17.42%. “We tried to The budget is as balanced as possible, considering salary increases. Other concepts such as overtime, productivity, exceptional services or holiday bonuses also need to be addressed,” adds the councilor from Elche.

Torrevieja’s Mayor of Economics and Finance, Domingo Paredes (PP), also explains the “complexities” that the increase in civil servant salaries has caused for municipalities. Paredes criticizes the central government’s actions because he thinks it “does not have consistency for itself”. economic policy». Torrevieja City Council applied for a loan amendment to pay off the debts corresponding to the salary increase. “We have guaranteed that all municipal officials collect an additional percentage,” the Torrevejense councilor concluded.