Alicante Provincial Council achieved one in every three euros planned by the end of the third quarter. This headline from last year is still relevant twelve months later. You can access the report dated September 30 at: Transparency Portal It reflects that 204 million euros of the provincial institution’s total expenses of 611 million euros have been paid, meaning 407 million euros remain pending execution. Low execution is one of the biggest evils in the Provincial Assembly in recent years, an issue that has been repeatedly condemned by the opposition and has now caused several conflicts with the government team formed solely by the PP.
As for what investments are? CommitteeThe implementation of the 6th and 7th sections of the budget, corresponding to real investments and capital transfers, is lower. While total loans reached 116 million in the 6th episode, the value of the payments made was 14 million. The total loan in Chapter 7 is 157 million. On the other hand, the payments made are 24 million. When two sections corresponding to the works, mainly capital transactions, are added, the absolute expenditure should be 273 million, while the payments made by adding both sections become 38 million. In other words, if total enforcement is 33.4%, this rate is 13.9% in the investment field.
As the months of this year progress, the percentage of executions in the Provincial Assembly increases. This can be verified by looking at two other quarterly reports corresponding to March 31 and June 30. In the first quarter of the year, total loans were 449 million and payments were 51 million, that is, total realization was 11.4%, while total investments were 186 million and payments were 2 million. 1.1%. Regarding the budget implementation for the second quarter of the year, total loan reached 609 million The payments made were 147 million, meaning the total enforcement rate in mid-2023 was 24.1%. Investments were 271 million and payments were 22 million, representing a realization of 8.1%.
The Provincial Council’s execution is known as it is already focused on preparing next year’s budgets. So far the government team has not scheduled any meetings with the government. three opposition groups, PSPV-PSOE, Compromís and Vox will learn about the 2024 proposals. In this context, it is worth remembering that the institution’s initial budget this year increased by 4.3%, reaching 283.7 million. Added to this was an extraordinary contribution of 161 million by Carlos Mazón, the previous president and currently president of Consell, facing the final term of his term.
The institution claims that the approval of a significant portion of these extraordinary funds was due to problems outside the County Council administration. This is why extra expenditures such as different business bonus campaigns launched to strengthen investments in the province, aid to mitigate the increase in energy prices or those related to it need to be approved. to issues like the pandemic or the war in Ukraine. Most of these items were financed treasure ruins and its main targets have been SMEs and the self-employed. Looking at the 2024 budget, although the government team has not yet met with the opposition, Provincial Council President Toni Pérez gave some information about the philosophy he wants to follow when preparing the accounts. First of all, he stated that he did not want to prepare an “inflated” budget that would make implementation difficult, but instead wanted a “realistic” budget to be prepared.
A situation that has been going on for years
The implementation of the Alicante Provincial Council’s 2023 budget, which was 33.4% at the end of the third quarter, follows a similar pattern to that of recent years; A situation emphasized by Intervención and reflected in its Reports. Recently, a negative trend has been observed in the accounts, especially in terms of real investments. In the last 2022, without going any further, strong excitement arose between the government team and the opposition after the auditor stated that the execution was the “worst record in a decade”.
This fact led the government team, then consisting of PP and Ciudadanos (the popular ones currently ruling alone), to defend their rule and highlight the budgetary efforts included in some of the implemented plans. + Cerca or Plan. From the opposition, both PSPV-PSOE and Compromís criticize the “collapse of investments”, which leads them to demand the elimination of political responsibilities by the PP.