The extension of the budget of Barcelona City Council leaves 117.7 million euros of investment in the air (17% less compared to last year's accounts). This is quantified in the documentation that accompanies the decree to extend the accounts for the year 2023 of the Catalan capital's City Council, which the mayor, Jaume Collboni, signed at the end of the year, but whose details have been published this week in the Municipal Gazette. . The socialist governs with only 10 of the 41 councilors and has been forced to extend the last budget of the former mayor Ada Colau (of whose government he was part as a partner) due to lack of political support: he did not manage to achieve a majority with the commons and ERC, nor with Junts. If he were to achieve this in the coming months, the 2024 accounts could be approved at any time this year.
In addition to having 117 million less to invest, the current municipal government will depend on the opposition to redirect items: the extended budget maintains amounts that last year were allocated to issues such as the union of trams along Diagonal (10 million euros) , the Plaza de les Glòries (20 million), the Rambla (six million), Via Laietana (18 million), the Abaceria market (6.7 million) or the Meridiana (14 million). In the year that begins, if the works have not been completed, the municipal machinery will have these amounts available; But in the case of finished works, you can allocate them to other projects, as long as you manage to approve credit modifications in the plenary session, for which it will depend on the opposition.
So much so that the Deputy Mayor for Economy, Jordi Valls, calls for the “responsibility of political forces to allocate economic resources to those items that require it.” In mid-October, when the opposition knocked down Collboni's budget project in its first process, Valls already made it clear that an extension would impact above all on nominal subsidies and investments. In the case of these subsidies, which are not awarded by public competition but are received by entities or foundations basically based on agreements or agreements (this is the case with the unions, Red Cross, Cáritas or the DESC Observatory, but also with the foundation del Mobile or Barcelona nautical capital), municipal sources explain that there are other formulas. They can be brought to a plenary session or “apply the regulations” regarding extraordinary direct aid for general interest or public attendance.
Valls assures about the extension that “it is a technical and legal option that allows the continuity of municipal management.” “We guarantee the same credit in 2024 as in 2023, throughout the year the necessary additions can be made.” The head of the economy portfolio also trusts in “new budgetary income to be distributed during the year.” Among these incomes would be Next Generation Funds (125 million last year), or participation in State taxes.
From the ranks of the commons, councilor Janet Sanz (deputy mayor for Urban Planning in Colau's coalition government), speaks openly of “cuts.” “There are two packages, one of just over 100 million and another that is not seen, but it is about the increases in chapter 1 [los gastos de personal]. It is absurd to start the year with an extended budget in a City Council that has resources,” he laments. Regarding personnel expenses, the current government responds that the remuneration of personnel will be guaranteed: “The credit for the year 2023 will be extended [la disponibilidad presupuestaria del año pasado] and 33 million euros will be added from the contingency fund to provide continuity through a modification that will have to be processed.” As with investments or subsidies, the contingency fund will also have to go through a plenary session. The annex to the mayoral decree on budget extension details that in the personnel chapter, “the entirety of the 494.6 million euros initially budgeted in 2023” is extended.
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On behalf of ERC, councilor Jordi Castellana warns that if the City Council bodies, such as municipal companies, are lowered, “the Institute of Education loses 6.7 million of investment in education, the Municipal Institute of Informatics 3.7 million , and housing, 22 million.”
In the investment chapter, the detail is as follows: the extension amounts to 577.8 million euros (117.7 million are not extended). The annex includes as “extendable projects that are identified as specific to face specific actions already started in 2023 and that must continue to be executed or completed in 2024,” such as the aforementioned works of Glòries, Via Laietana or La Rambla. And also those that “are identified as generic to face non-singular or recurring actions”, basically equipment or projects of the Pla de Barris. Non-extendable projects are those that are identified as generic and already finished in 2023 (for an amount of 72 million) or that do not have continuity in 2024 (45.7 million euros).
No new income from increasing the tourist tax
The budget project presented by Mayor Jaume Collboni in October, and which he has not been able to approve, had as one of the main novelties squeezing tourist taxes with increases in the municipal section of the tourist tax for tourist apartments and cruises, or terraces . In total, there were 29 million more for these two concepts, which at the time sought to get closer to the commons of Ada Colau or ERC. Then, the Deputy Mayor for Economy, Jordi Valls, highlighted that with the increases in tourism taxation, the tourist tax will be the third tax with which the city collects the most (95 million euros in 2024, 25 million euros more than this year), after the Real Estate Tax (IBI) and capital gains on real estate sales. Finally, only the terrace tax has been partially saved (thanks to an agreement with Xavier Trias, from Junts), with a last-minute agreement that will allow four million more to enter than in 2023.
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