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3rd - 8th January 2018
Budget moving forward at last Approval of the 2018 budget in Torrevieja looks to be just a little closer to happening at last. The budget has been on hold due to the failure of the opposition and current council to agree on what it should contain. Without a clear majority, the current ruling government initially failed to attract the support of the two additional parties, Sueña and Ciudadanos. They needed this support to pass any of the projects. The PP, who hold 11 of the 25 councillors would not be in agreement on principle. The failure to reach agreement and the constant blocking of the budget by the opposition has meant that a number of proposed projects have been unable to go ahead. Now, at last the Sueña and Ciudadanos parties have come out in support. The budget could be implemented from February and was agreed by the four parties who currently govern: Los Verdes, PSOE, APTCe and IU and the opposition parties of Sueña Torrevieja and Ciudadanos. The proposals were rejected by the PP. This means that in total 13 councillors
voted for the budget and 11 against which just gives the majority needed to take the budget forward to another vote next month. If it is passed then, the plans for the future funding of the town can go ahead. Pablo Samper for Sueña Torrevieja, points out, however, that their support is to enable actions to go ahead and is not a blank cheque for continued and uncritical approval. There have been a number of hold ups to the budget including the disagreements over the refuse contract. The current budget statement has been put together by the councillor, José Hurtado and comes to 90.6 million altogether. The council has lost five million due to the reduction in the council tax, IBI. Part of the budget is being set aside to try and reduce the amount that the town owes to the banks. A million euros has been set aside for repair and improvements to the sports city and other works such as lighting improvements and park conservation. However, the PP are still vocal in opposing the budget. They claim that it is
not the budget that Torrevieja needs and that, in fact, they have not amended the budget to include the changes requested by the Sueña and Ciudadanos parties. However, these parties claim that their support is being provided in order to enable the town council to manage the town and to unlock the paralysis that there has been. Suzanne O’Connell
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