It doesn’t look like it’s going to be a military trip. this Alicante Mayor Luis Barcala will not have an easy time executing his plan Thus, Suma, which is subordinate to the provincial authority responsible for administering and collecting municipal taxes in the province, becomes responsible for collecting taxes from the residents of Alicante. This was confirmed at the briefing meeting the bipartisans met with representatives of municipal groups this Friday, which was attended by the director of Suma. Jose Antonio Belso and Deputy finance minister María Gómez and municipal technicians.
A proposal to change the remuneration model of the municipality administration is expected. It will pass the Treasury Commission next week as a preliminary step for the vote to be held at the general meeting, which is expected to take place this month.will be held on September 29.
At the end of the meeting, questioned Barcala’s intentions from both the left and VoxTo ensure that there are no conclusive reports on the benefits of the management model to the people of Alicante. All groups share They get suspicious when it comes to replacing a model they say works. And they also criticize its lack as a bloc. transparency The local administrator, who did not inform the opposition until this Friday about the project that this newspaper announced at the beginning of the month.
this Trini Amorós, deputy spokesperson for the socialists, He argued that “Barcala will not allow his group to loot more than four million residents of Alicante in an effort to transfer municipal tax collection to Suma, a body under the Provincial Assembly.” The councilor admitted that he did not understand Barcala’s position, leaving potential electoral interest in the air: “We don’t understand why bipartisans would want to change something that worked perfectly, if not to please their boss, Carlos Mazón. Also, if this change happens, it will cost the city’s coffers more than a million euros a year, which seems scandalous to us.
For Amorós, “knowing this ineffective mayor, Thanks to its professionalism, it has the capacity to distribute the money of all citizens while receiving an exemplary service. and the excellence of Alicante City Council officials”. That’s money for socialists”It can be dedicated to other emergencies that Alicante suffers fromBut it’s clear that this mayor only cares about the orders of his party boss, not his neighbors.”
“We don’t understand why bipartisans would want to change something that was working perfectly, if not to please their boss, Carlos Mazón.”
Since United We Can, spokesperson Xavier López, Treasury councilor popular Lidia López assures that “the city council has not given a single compelling reason to transfer tax administration to Diputación, Suma.” “We did not see any economic benefit, because the savings of nearly a million euros are about the same as the cost of paying our parliament’s provincial body to take on this task. In terms of existing human resources – López continues – we did not see a benefit and How many civil servants will be dismissed for other municipal affairs was not disclosed to us in detail. We don’t see any significant infrastructure improvement that a city council like ours wouldn’t be able to implement if the mayor of United We Can had a real will to decentralize the activities of the People’s Party. District Boards”.
We can also criticize that it was offered to the opposition from United.”an agreement was drafted and announced to be signed“with the maneuverability to express an opinion and make a proposal” without political groups.
“This meeting was a paripé with neither reports nor concrete answers to our questions”
So, in a nutshell, they understand that from the purple coalition “this meeting, apart from a paripé where there are no reports, no concrete answers to our questions, nor was there a significant bid, it was a pure marketing ploy for the People’s Party candidacy.” “We also understand that. Barcala looks forward to gifting its regional candidateand we believe that if what he wants to do is campaign, we believe he should use his spare time,” López added, referring to the Generalitat’s election race in Alicante, which is currently stuck in parliamentarian Carlos Mazón.
Also from the left bank, Natxo Bellido, spokesperson for Compro, said: While arguing, “If something is going well, why should it change”, he also questioned “the transfer of powers to the Provincial Administration”. “We don’t like it because we trust this City Council.Bellido pointed out that the statements made to the opposition came “late” because they were excluded from the drafting of the agreement.
“If something is going well, why change it? We don’t like delegation, because we trust this City Council”
But not only the left, the convenience of transferring tax collection to Suma also raises many doubts. He doesn’t like it on Vox either. Mario Ortolá, spokesperson for the ultra formation, You won’t find “heavy arguments that make this transfer necessary now”. In addition, Ortolá questioned Barcala’s promises that he had assured the transfer would allow payment terms to be made more flexible: “It is not true that Suma has a looser regulation in terms of fractionation. because it depends on our municipal regulation, because the General Tax Code is the same for all public administration, including Suma as an autonomous body”.
“I can’t find any weighty arguments to suggest that this transfer should be made immediately”
But Vox’s doubts do not end there. “Nor is it true that it is impossible to centralize citizen care in neighborhoods. If so, we may already close all community centers where Alicante residents are cared for. This is ridiculous,” Ortolá added, who also joined the criticism of the lack of transparency of the two parties. possibility to know the project that is already closed and a complete swallowThey announced that they would request the technical reports issued from the Treasury in 2013 and 2015 from Vox.
PP and Ciudadanos remained silent after meeting
Following the meeting at the Mayor’s Office, but in the mayor’s absence, neither PP nor Ciudadanos wanted to make a statement as it was an “internal working meeting” as they had agreed.
After the disclosure of this newspaper, the intention of the two parties to transfer the payment to Suma, Luis Barcala, Mayor of Alicante, defended the project. “We want to improve administrative efficiency with citizens in mind. We can expand the network of offices to bring the administration closer to the citizen because I don’t want people to queue up when they don’t need to. All municipalities of the province are already working with Suma and of all political colors. We want the offer to citizens to be closer, more face-to-face so they don’t have to go to the headquarters to deal with the City Council,” Barcala said when asked by this newspaper earlier this month.
Mukhtar also evaluated that Suma would give permission if the change in authority was documented.multiplication fractionation tools, because some of these measures cannot be implemented in the City Council because the law does not allow it,” he said.
By payment scheduleDifferent at the moment in Alicante City Council and the remaining municipalities of the province that have abandoned tax collection in Suma, Barcala assured two weeks ago that everything pointed to no need to adjust. until Suma’s time if he approves the payment model change. “The man from Alicante is used to the calendar and it’s okay for Suma to adapt his system for us. We want this not to cause any problems for the people of Alicante,” said the Alicante mayor, arguing that outsourcing the administration would cost the City Council about one million euros per year, which, according to his position, would be more than compensating for the improvement of service: “Only to compensate for the improvement of the service. The investment in opening an office far exceeds this money, plus personalized attention in several languages and the best payment formulas.”
Six years ago, Ciudadanos defended the municipal government
If the cancellation of the collection system that Barcala intends to receive is approved and documented, go back ten years About tax management in Alicante. Then, the government led by the popular Sonia Castedo left the administration and collection of taxes to the residents of the city of Alicante in the hands of Suma. It was at a time when the City Council needed liquidity, and Suma contributed some of that collection by moving forward for taxes.
This scenario only lasted a few years. Under pressure from city officials, The situation soon returned to its original state when the left-wing trio came to Alicante City Council. Seven years ago, a few months after socialist Gabriel Echávarri took over the leadership, the County Council accepted Alicante City Council’s request to reinstate tax administration. From 1 January 2016Pre-decided the current agreement with Suma by December 2017. City Council gave the green light to management change With votes in favor of the tripartite members and Citizens against the abstention of the PP.
According to the Alicante City Council’s revenue forecast for 2022, municipal government calculates to collect 86.8 million for IBI, 15.9 million for vehicle tax, 9.7 million for waste rate and 8.4 million for IAEsuch as taxes or fees that have the greatest economic impact.