The popular mayoress of the Arrecife City Council, Astrid Pérez, has signed the decree by which “authorizes and orders the payment of nearly 800,000 euros” to settle the “historical debt” that the Consortium maintained with Inalsa for “more than a decade”.
Specifically, the City Council announces that it will pay the amount of 755,959.25 euros, -796,377.00 euros of principal less 40,417.75 euros already paid-, corresponding to the non-payment of water supply and sanitation fee receipts by the Arrecife consistory to Inalsa “from 2006 to 2013”.
The Water Consortium, owner of Inalsa, sued the Arrecife City Council “in May 2019”. A ruling by the Contentious-Administrative Court No. 4 of Las Palmas condemned the capital's local administration “to make the payment of the debt plus default interest and court costs effective”.
The mayoress of Arrecife, Astrid Pérez, has stated that “from the first moment I have worked to agree with the Water Consortium, owner of Inalsa, the payment of the debt and that it does not continue to grow with the consequent damage to public coffers”.
“Unfortunately, for too many years this City Council has been without direction and public money has not been well managed and we are paying for this now”, adds the mayoress.
In the opinion of the first mayor, “it is absolutely inadmissible that the public administration does not pay for the water supply for more than a decade as any ordinary citizen does”.
The decree signed by Astrid Pérez, dated last Monday, December 13, details that, from the Intervention department of the Arrecife City Council, dated August 4, 2021, “a credit retention was made for an amount of 796,377.00 euros (file 2/2021-2164)”, in order to meet the amount owed. However, and taking into account that, according to the Treasury's letter, dated November 9, 2021, “on August 2, 2021, the amount of 40,417.75 euros was paid, corresponding to invoice RE 01223, of June 21, 2011, for water supply for the month of March 2011, an amount that is part of the debt claimed in court”.
