The City Council of Arrecife will approve this Friday its annual budgets for the year 2025, "the highest in the history of the municipality", with almost 75 million euros and an increase of seven million compared to the previous year. The mayor, Yonathan de León, presented these annual budgets this Friday morning at a press conference together with the deputy mayor and councilor of Finance, Echedey Eugenio.
"This substantial annual budget has an increase in income in fees of 6.04%, the result of the significant attraction of private investments dedicated to building in Arrecife (amounts for urban planning licenses), current transfers - direct contributions from other administrations, with an increase of 11.12%, and property income, by 66.67%," detailed the mayor at the press conference held in the Citizen Participation hall in the Argana Alta neighborhood.
According to the municipality in a statement, the budget increase "is in line with the population growth, which already exceeds 70,000 inhabitants, making the city of Arrecife the capital of peripheral islands of both archipelagos of Spain (Canary Islands and Balearic Islands) with the largest resident population".
The new municipal accounts, highlighted the mayor and direct head of the Budget Management Unit - the body that drafts the annual budgets - strengthen "the economic revitalization, the improvement of infrastructures, the increase of public services and the modernization of the neighborhoods, through new public works, as well as the renovation and modernization of the municipal public transport fleet with the acquisition of electric buses, and important support for leisure and cultural activities", remarked Yonathan de León.
The Municipal Government of Arrecife (PP and CC) emphasizes in its budgets for 2025 its commitment "to sustainable development and the improvement of services for citizens, reflected in chapter 2".
Yonathan de León emphasized that "these budgets, to which will be added in this first semester about 30 million euros for investments from the Treasury surpluses, will allow the City Council of Arrecife to strengthen public services in the city, attending to the needs of the citizens, and continue with the renovation and modernization in the neighborhoods, with actions in public spaces, roads, equipment and facilities, continue to increase citizen security, and with new plans for the improvements of public buildings, parks and gardens".
The Municipal Government continues on the path of "the modernization of the city, as reflected in the technical report that accompanies the budgets, with new public works, greater ease in sustainable mobility, betting on a healthy city model, increasing cultural, sports and social life, strengthening security, and supporting economic growth, with the actions of revitalization and urban renewal, which attracts new investments in buildings and openings of new commercial, industrial and hospitality premises".
The chapter of expenses and investment focuses on the new works to continue with the modernization of Arrecife, renewing its urban image, achieving the elimination of barriers and achieving the transformation into an accessible capital, plus the improvement of municipal public transport, and the necessary expansion of the Municipal Cemetery.
Likewise, progress continues in the areas of Culture, Youth, Seniors, Commerce, Tourism and Sports. With the increase in public spending, the necessary economic development of the city continues to be favored and promoted, through these sectors, where self-employed workers and SMEs are service providers.
The personnel expenditure reflects "the salary increase agreed at the state level, as well as the allocation for the creation of new positions that improve the internal organization of the City Council". In the global chapter of culture the increase is 53.95%, in Education it increases by 9.62%, in Health, 13.77%, in Sports the increase amounts to 86.09%, and in Social Welfare, in a year with full recovery and with great job creation in the city, the allocation continues to guarantee the municipal services that are provided to the elderly, and dependent people, is noted in the report signed by the mayor.
Arrecife, as a City Council, "continues to provide positive data, in virtually all economic indicators (solvency, average collection period, average payment period and indebtedness)".
"The economic and financial parameters reflect the optimal financial health of the City Council with a budget surplus in previous years, showing financial sustainability, which, with the already known accounting surplus of treasury, will provide an additional injection for the policies and projects that we want to execute throughout this year, plus the next with multi-year items," said the mayor.
"The commitment of the Municipal Government group is to make Arrecife a city that advances and modernizes," said Yonathan de León, betting on a city that enhances its neighborhoods to give more social cohesion, dynamizing, promoting commerce and hospitality, supporting groups, clubs, youth, seniors, people with different abilities and associations of our city so that they feel recognized and protected in their group needs.
For this, Arrecife "is provided with an expansive budget, the largest in its history, and that will make possible the implementation of the action plans of the Municipal Government integrated by the PP and CC".
The deputy mayor and councilor of Finance of the City Council of Arrecife, Echedey Eugenio, has stressed during the press conference that "the budgets that we present today are the roadmap that will mark the work of this government group in 2025. These are accounts that look to the future with determination, betting on investment, economic diversification, social welfare, leisure and culture. It is the most ambitious multi-year Investment Plan of the last decades, with almost 70 million euros of budget and 7 in investments that can be executed from tomorrow itself".
The councilor affirmed that "we maintain the economic balance, ensuring that the City Council continues to function solvently, without increasing indebtedness and streamlining payments to suppliers. We cannot continue waiting for the State, Arrecife needs these budgets and it is our responsibility to continue forward".
Eugenio also wanted to emphasize that "we have negotiated these accounts in record time because our commitment to the citizens was clear: to approve the budgets in the first quarter of the year. In this process, the acronyms have remained at the door of the City Council. The important thing is Arrecife and its people, and I want to thank the willingness of all areas of the City Council to carry out this budget that will allow us to continue transforming the city and improving the quality of life of our neighbors".
