This is definitely not a panacea, but it will help. And Suma, the autonomous tax administration body under the Provincial Council of Alicante, For the first time in its history, it will allocate the bulk of its surplus, 2.4 million euros, to alleviate the fragile economic situation of most municipal councils in the province.. The measure, approved by the provincial body itself, is extraordinary and was adopted in response to the rising energy and service prices that the municipal coffers have to face.
The initiative came from the Suma administration and was supported and later approved by the governing council as well as the Provincial Council itself. As José Antonio Belso, director of the tax governing body, explains, The distribution of funds was determined by an aid package for 141 municipalities in the provinceThe administration and collection of taxes are more or less delegated.
A total of EUR 2,423,000 was awarded, which was distributed to each municipal council based on the actual cost of the service provided by Suma in the 2022 financial year, according to the regulatory basis of the call. Almost all municipalities with smaller populations have seen the costs of this service fully covered..
A minimum aid of 3,000 euros has been set, so that all small populations will benefit from a significant amount. In the remaining part, the distribution was made according to the amount determined by Suma as the collection rate.
The contributions were justified in order to partially finance public expenditures generated by the exercise of municipal powers in relation to the provision of Suma services, but, as José Antonio Belso admitted, in reality these direct aids «It allows municipalities to relieve their public coffers in a year when expenses increased significantly due to the increase in energy and other service costs.».
The director of Suma also emphasizes that with this initiative, the Alicante Provincial Council, through its tax management body, “fulfills one of the functions that provincial companies have in the Public Administration jurisdiction map.” To ensure comprehensive and adequate provision of public services under municipal authority throughout the state area.
Provincial Council President Toni Pérez, on the other hand, does not hesitate to describe the measure promoted by Suma and the provincial institution as “the right decision”. In his words, “In recent years, city councils have faced a rather complex situation. and is full of uncertainty as a result of inflation with its repercussions at the accounting level. Therefore, it is aimed to contribute to combating a problem that affects all parliaments as much as possible. “This kind of help is good for all of us.”
As mayor of Benidorm, Toni Pérez recalls: Inflation problem continues since 2022. In his own words, “Costs skyrocketed at that moment, then it was thought they would fall, but the truth is that they either remained the same or continued to rise, resulting in losses in terms of accounting.”
This indicates an increase in energy prices. «People think it’s just about lighting, but it also includes issues such as electricity supply to schools, cultural and social infrastructure, as well as gas and propane for heating. “Everything has gone through the roof,” he laments.
It also puts the cost of services as well as salaries into the same bag. «There is a lot of labor involved in municipal contracts – he states. Cleaning and waste collection is done by people, gardeners, lifeguards… These are all issues that need to be financed.».
Alicante City Council Financial Advisor Toni Gallego expresses himself in similar terms and underlines, for example, in the extended 2022 budget: The electricity consumption item was nine million euros and they had to allocate 15 million euros until 2024. “We’re talking about a 50 percent increase in just two years, and that needs to be confronted,” he says.
The mayor also points out that costs increase with the renewal of contracts, stating that this situation requires great efforts to balance the accounts. According to Gallego, «You need to know what you have and where you should direct your efforts most.. So if we need to clean the streets more or maintain the services better.” In any case, the head of the treasury emphasizes, “we have a good level of service in Alicante.”
With all this, the councilor emphasizes: “What inflation does is make it very complicated at the budget level, but we believe that the challenges will decrease for this year, given that everything is showing that costs will rise and continue to rise, although not as much as they have been so far.”
Mayor of Torrevieja Treasury, Domingo Paredes, It pays special attention to price reviews, which must be carried out by decision of the Generalitat in case of cost gaps From the moment of tender until the moment the work is undertaken. “In practically every case, we have to do investigations into what this means at the predictive level,” he emphasizes. He also talks about what he calls “tripling or even quadrupling” energy.
Torrevieja City Council is covering these spending increases with extraordinary loan recognitions where necessary. “Fortunately, we have the capacity to solve these problems, but there are other municipalities that are experiencing more difficulties,” he says.
information system
As mentioned before, most of the remaining part of Suma is allocated to help municipalities in this difficult period, while the rest is reserved for a number of investments planned by the tax office.
As its Director José Antonio Belso emphasizes, one of the most important is the renewal of the information system. “He emphasizes that the system we have is almost 30 years old, so it suffers from the inherent rigidities of a previously optimal system. We need more flexibility and integration in the cloud and so we will face a first phase this year, we are strengthening the system so that it can last us another five or seven years. According to Belso, the ultimate goal is “to ensure that this does not become obsolete.”