The modernization of services, the improvement of social care, the promotion of family and adolescent policies, greater support for neighborhood councils and districts and investments in infrastructure and services are the axes on which the 2024 municipal budget is structured. from the mayor, Noelia Arroyo. These were initially approved this Friday at the meeting held by the members of the local Government Board, in the Town Hall. The current councilor will have at her disposal an amount that reaches 263 million euros, 15 more than this year 2023, according to municipal sources after the meeting. That figure represents 6.34% growth.
Arroyo’s intention is that these accounts, agreed upon with his government partner: the municipal group Vox, are provisionally approved by the Plenary of the Corporation on December 14, after passing through the Finance Commission on the 11th. The intention is for them to obtain definitive approval on January 19, as Arroyo explained in the presentation of the accounts, at the Town Hall.
For garden services, cleaning of public buildings and schools, urgent maintenance of streets and squares and a paving plan there are 112.5 million euros, 6.1 more than this year. Arroyo placed special emphasis on the last item, which is 1.6 million, which the neighborhood councils will be in charge of. In the total of this section there are also 10 million to improve the energy efficiency of municipal buildings.
Home help
In the Social Care section there will be 18 million, of which the 4.1 million that will go to the new Department for the Elderly, headed by Francisca Martínez, stand out. Of that amount, more than half, 2.8 specifically, will go to Home Help, and the rest to create places in the day centers of El Algar and Los Dolores. There will also be a specific item for the construction of a Day Center and Residence in La Palma. For this there are 150,000 euros.
To promote family and adolescent policies there are 2.8 million, which will go to the new Childhood and Adolescence Unit, which plans to improve the municipal response to the problems of minors. 426,000 euros will be allocated to an Equality plan and the fight against gender violence and another 1.2 will go to the new Barrio Peral children’s school, to “improve the family and work balance of the people of Cartagena,” said Arroyo.
One of the most notable items, due to the neighborhood impact it always has, is the one destined for Decentralization, which in 2024 will be 8.3 million. Of that money, the neighborhood councils and districts will manage 4.6, 9% more than in 2023. It is a figure to which we must add 250,000 euros that the Infrastructure area allocates to the special works plan in the Mar Menor, whose investments are decided by the neighbors themselves. These are small arrangements in towns such as Los Urrutias and Los Nietos, among others.
Increase in salaries of civil servants
Personnel spending will grow by five million. Half will go to cover the expense of increasing the staff of the Local Police and Firefighters, in addition to updating the Job Relations List (RPT), which had not been renewed for 20 years. The rest is for the increase in the salaries of civil servants and “the social expenses established by the central government,” said the councilor.
Arroyo placed great emphasis on the investments he will make, for which he has reserved 45 million euros. Of the total expenditure allocated to this section, 39 million correspond to joint investments that will be covered with municipal, European and Autonomous Community money. He gave some examples, such as the Parque de la Rosa nursery school, whose municipal contribution is 252,000 euros, but the investment that the City Council will manage is 1.2 million. The Rubio House and the Roman Amphitheater were other projects commented on by Noelia Arroyo.
Among the programs with exclusively municipal investments, he pointed out the investment plan in sports facilities, which totals 1.2 million, of which 780,000 are to finish the athletics track project; as well as the 225,000 euros to finish the Isaac Peral House Museum, the million euros for investments in Police and Fire vehicles and communications, and the 200,000 for repairs in the medical offices.
Other investments to be made are park and ride facilities, the network of bike lanes and other mobility measures, which total almost 7 million. There are another 21 projects to reinforce the sanitation network in the area of the Mar Menor for 3.5 million.
Tourism sustainability
In addition, almost 2 million will be allocated to convert the old Peninsular Hotel into the headquarters of various municipal services and 1.3 million will go to the Associations hotel in the old facilities of the San Francisco Javier de Los Barreros school. The Roman Forest, a 2-kilometer green corridor that will link San José Obrero and Canteras, will have almost two million euros; the tourism sustainability plan, 4.1; and to rehabilitate the San Leandro battery, next to the La Curra dock, one million.
Arroyo also recalled that services in the coastal areas will focus on the new Litoral area, which manages and coordinates contracts and investments throughout the entire coastal area of Cartagena. This delegation will manage 5.5 million euros, of which 200,000 are a new item created for investments.
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