After three years of legislature without a clear budgetary roadmap, the new accounts of the Sestao Town Council, whose draft was presented a month ago and is yet to be approved, are now compromised. At the end of February, state regulations regarding the spending cap came into force, setting a nominal reference rate of 3.5% for this year. This means that a municipal budget cannot show a growth greater than this figure compared to the previous one.
According to a spokesperson for the municipal government team, this directive is “mandatory” and forces a reduction in the budgets, which significantly exceed the established limit. The draft presented last month amounted to 55.7 million euros, the highest figure in the history of this Town Council, representing a 14% increase compared to those approved in February 2023.
“"Projects such as Arturo Kanpion, which has accessibility and humidity problems, or the rehabilitation of Markonzaga park, are being dropped. In total, there will be more than 4 million less in the investment chapter."
An opposition group has also denounced that to address this cut, budgeted staff vacancies will not be filled, which will lead to an increased workload for civil servants. However, the government team aims to convey reassurance, stating that “no investment will be dropped”.
“"We are not going to drop any investment. Speaking with Intervention, they guarantee that through the various credit modifications we may need from the surplus, which is stipulated at 8 million, we will be able to undertake these projects. Apart from future credit incorporations that we intend to manage this year due to the works to be carried out in La Naval."
Furthermore, the local government has denied the claim that vacancies will not be filled. In fact, it has announced that seven positions will be awarded in the next two weeks, including six administrative roles and the head of Culture. They have indicated that more positions remain to be filled and they are working on it, despite issues with job pools.
Additionally, the Sestao Town Council will have to compensate two cleaning companies with nearly 2 million euros, as they have been providing services in the municipality without a contract for several years. In the first instance, an out-of-court settlement has been reached between the local government and the firm responsible for cleaning various municipal buildings, whereby the Council will have to pay just over one million euros to compensate for the “forced extension” of two contracts that expired in 2019 and 2020.
A second company, responsible for street cleaning, will also have to be compensated with approximately 800,000 euros. This company's contract expired three years ago, and as it is an essential service, it has continued to be provided. The spokesperson for the government team explained that they have a credit reserve of 1,140,000 euros for the future compensation to the street cleaning company, which is still under technical review to determine the exact payment.
