Overview of the Alicante Province Treasury Support Initiative
Suma Gestión Tributaria will advance 195 million euros to the municipalities in Alicante Province to secure liquidity. This liquidity boost is achieved through a treasury operation that Suma, the body under the Diputación de Alicante, has arranged with several financial institutions. The mechanism enables Alicante’s towns, where Suma handles the collection of IBI and IAE taxes, to manage their ordinary expenses from the start of the year without waiting for the tax revenue collection to conclude at the end of October.
The deal was closed with benchmark indices that sit below market levels, resulting in lower financing costs for the municipalities. The president of the Diputación, Toni Pérez, noted that 120 councils have already requested this advance. “We have secured a special treasury arrangement with eight collaborating financial entities at very favorable reference rates, which will let our municipalities receive a large portion of their tax revenue ahead of time,” stated the president of the institution.
Marina Sáez, a deputy and the vice president of the tax agency, highlighted the Diputación’s commitment to the province’s towns. This measure provides liquidity so municipalities can continue delivering essential services efficiently. Advances are calculated based on each town’s estimated tax collection for the current year, with a maximum of 75 percent of that amount. The advances are divided into nine monthly installments, allowing towns to access funds monthly for their routine expenses.
“The 195 million euros are already available to the municipalities, and to date, 120 councils have requested this advance through Suma,” explained José Antonio Belso, the director of Suma. He added that the operation was signed with Banco Sabadell, Eurocaja Rural, Banco Santander, BBVA, Grupo Cajamar, Caja Rural Central, Caixa Ontinyent, and Caixa Popular.
This initiative marks a new move by Suma to relieve Alicante’s municipalities. Earlier this year, the Diputación announced that, for the first time, it would allocate its surplus, amounting to 2.4 million euros, to assist local administrations in offsetting the cash shortfalls caused by rising energy and service costs. The strategy was proposed by Suma’s leadership and approved by the council of directors and the Diputación itself. The funds are distributed through a package of aids for municipalities that maintain, to a greater or lesser extent, responsibility for the management and collection of local taxes.
The 2.4 million euros were allotted to each town based on the actual cost of the service provided by Suma in 2022, in line with the regulatory framework of the call for proposals. This approach ensured that nearly all smaller municipalities received full coverage of the service costs. A minimum grant of 3,000 euros was established to ensure every smaller town benefited meaningfully. In larger towns, the distribution depended on the charges Suma billed for the collection service.