The accounts include 15.6 million for social care, 6 for the neighborhoods, 3 for sports infrastructures, 1.8 for the coast and two to excavate the Monte Sacro and next to the Molinete.
The Cartagena City Council will request a loan of 9.3 million euros, the second in three years of the legislature, to finance half of the investments planned in 2022. Among them, 3.3 million in neighborhoods and councils stand out, 3 in sports infrastructures , 2 in the archaeological excavations of Molinete and Monte Saro, 1.7 in the municipal mobility plan, 1.8 in coastal towns and improvements in neighborhoods and county councils and 1.2 million in an asphalt program. This was explained this Wednesday by the mayor, Noelia Arroyo, who advanced the “master lines” of some accounts that the Local Government Board plans to approve this Thursday in an extraordinary session. The plenary session is scheduled for December 3.
The accounts amount to 234 million euros, 7.8% and 17 million more than this year, according to the large figures reported by Arroyo, accompanied by the deputy mayor and councilor for Urban Planning, Ana Belén Castejón, and the lieutenant of mayor and mayor of Health, Manuel Padín.
«We will be the first institution in the Region to approve the accounts. We want to have them in force in January, “said the mayor, to be able to start executing the social and investment programs immediately. “We cannot let the municipality stop,” he stressed, adding that 2022 should be the year of economic and employment recovery, and of the consolidation of aid to those who have suffered the worst from Covid-19.
The announced loan is under negotiation, so the interest rate and repayment period have not yet been closed. However, Arroyo ruled out that it may affect the municipal debt upward, “which falls at the rate of ten million euros each year, that is, more than we are going to ask for credit.”
The purpose of this bank financing is to compensate for a decrease of 9.3 million due to four different causes. The rising cost of electricity and gas has raised this bill by 22%, that is, around two million. The cancellation of the capital gains tax reduces income by another three million. This year it will be necessary to compensate the public transport company again. In this case, it will be 1.2 million euros for the benefit of travelers due to causes derived from Covid and attributable to the ALSA concessionaire.
The previous loan was requested at the end of 2019, with the objective of covering the expenses derived from DANA that fall. The amount was similar to what was announced this Wednesday.
The rest is due to the rise in salaries of public employees and inflation, which will force an increase in payments for large cleaning and maintenance contracts for gardens, lighting and public buildings, among others. This chapter, which also includes payments to suppliers of goods and services, will reach almost 100 million euros in 2022, around 40% of the total. The main novelty is that the entry into service of the new garden contract is recorded for the last quarter of 2022, with an 80% increase in the area of manicured parks,
The Personnel chapter will be the second largest, with 86 million and an increase of 4.16%. The 2% salary increase, which was also used as a reason to request the loan that will finance the investments, has a decisive influence, but “it will not apply to elected officials or municipal advisers,” Arroyo said. One of the objectives is to increase the number of neighborhood agents, a motorized brigade that already operates in the Peral neighborhood, José María La Puerta, the Virgen de la Caridad neighborhood and the Ensanche, to give four examples.
30 million in Security
Also the reinforcements of the staff of the Local Police, with 30 personnel plus the new vacancies, and the Fire Fighting Service, with 25 plus the positions of those who retire. These reinforcements fall within the Safety section, which including improvements in vehicles and material, will have 30 million euros. This also includes the plan to enhance the Civil Protection service.
Other services related to the reinforcement of personnel will include more technicians from the General State Administration, architects and quality inspectors of public services, the mayor stressed.
The asphalt plan will allow repairs to be made with the equivalent of 15 kilometers of asphalt. The commitment to neighborhoods and county councils will mean increasing the allocations to the twelve neighborhood councils by 15% and increasing the amount that goes to other district demarcations by 50%. The social care area will have 15.6 million euros and there will be 274,000 to finance housing and provide a roof for the most disadvantaged.
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