The Arrecife City Council plenary session has initially approved this Monday a 60 percent bonus on the Real Estate Tax (IBI) quota for those buildings in which economic activities that are declared of special interest or municipal utility are carried out. For this, social, cultural, historical, artistic or employment promotion circumstances must concur to justify such a declaration.
The proposal is made as a result of the modification of the Law of Local Finances by which tax measures are adopted aimed at consolidating public finances and promoting economic activity, incorporating a new optional bonus, as explained by the Councilor for Economy and Finance, María Teresa Lorenzo. "This means that the city councils may regulate a bonus of up to 95 percent of the full quota in favor of these properties," she indicated.
Thus, it is up to the plenary session of the Arrecife City Council to declare which buildings can be included in this category. The document will be on public display for 30 business days, within which interested parties may examine and raise any claims they deem appropriate.
Improving the taxi sector
On the other hand, all political groups have voted in favor of the motions to modernize the taxi sector, both in the application of the regulations and in the creation of a retainer in the Los Mármoles dock and cruise port for the days of ship arrivals. The motions have been presented by the PNL councilor, Pedro de Armas.
The Councilor for Transportation, Víctor Sanginés, has recalled that he is working on the constitution of a City Council-taxi sector table. "I hope that all the groups are present, because we all know the difficulties that the taxi is going through, a service that is private but of public interest," he indicated during the plenary session.
Sanginés has also indicated that a agreement with the Port Authority is being drafted, so that its police, the only one with the capacity to intervene in the ports, collaborates with the capital's Consistory in the control of security and compliance with municipal ordinances.
Cultural subsidies
In addition, the City Council plenary session has unanimously agreed to initially approve the draft of the new regulatory ordinance for subsidies for the exercise of cultural activities in the municipality. The document, which must be published in the Official Gazette of the Province (BOP) and be on public display for one month in case it is subject to allegations, brings together and homogenizes several previous regulations with similar content.
"If this ordinance finally sees the light, it will be applicable to all types of cultural, neighborhood, association, NGO projects, in the field of training, culture, leisure and free time," said the Councilor for Culture, Eva de Anta.
Once it comes into force, the official call for subsidies will be opened charged to the 2013 budget. The Culture area of the Arrecife City Council has planned an item of 70,000 euros for this purpose, to be awarded in amounts never exceeding 4,000 euros per project.
Regarding the awarding of aid, a collegiate body of an "eminently technical" nature will be in charge of assessing each proposal, according to the criteria contained in the ordinance. "Then it will be the Municipal Plenary the body that ratifies the subsidies. With this regulation, the government group wants to make the distribution of public funds fairer and more transparent, eliminating any suspicion of arbitrariness or favoritism," De Anta defended.
At the beginning of the plenary session, the Corporation observed a minute of silence in memory of those who died in Madrid in the attacks of March 11, 2004.
