The Lanzarote Island Council member, Óscar Noda, has criticized the destination for Oswaldo Betancort's first budget, which he emphasizes is "made in his own image: photos, parties, and little strategic ambition for Lanzarote."
“The president of the Lanzarote Island Council has made a caricature with this island budget, the budget of all Lanzarote residents, as it seems to be made in his own image. These accounts seem like stories, since they only show considerable increases in expenses for protocol representations and expenses destined for personal posturing, without ignoring the large increases in cultural festivals and economic promotion, that is, 'Saborea Lanzarote'”, Noda states.
For the coalition formed by UPY-NC in the First Island Corporation, “there are things that should not be overlooked by citizen control, such as the warnings from the General Intervention of the Island Council that expresses the repeated urgent need to stop assuming powers that do not belong to it. Powers such as employment and education to which, in this exercise, housing has been added. In addition, the comptroller warns of the need to structure the budget in an organic way to reduce the number of budget modifications.”
For Noda, it is essential to make "a budget always based on the recommendations of the corresponding technicians", since it is "the best way to carry it out and to maintain high rates of compliance, which is what this Island Council needs in areas such as Social Welfare, Infrastructure and Public Works."
The council member has also criticized that this government "does not comply with the example it demands of others in local corporations, since they agreed in the Finance Committee to cut the time for the presentation of allegations, which went from 7 to 4 days, thus limiting the opposition's capacity to study a document that requires a lot of study and rigorous analysis."
In this sense, Noda highlights that “it seems like a joke that the two parties that support the government of the Island Council, PP and CC, plus the white label of the nationalists in Yaiza, have demanded more time to study the Yaiza Budget and then bring the Island Budget late and in a terrible hurry”, he added.
The council member recalls that “to begin with, they should have approved it before December 31, 2023, but they also subtract from the opposition the 7 days stipulated in the organic regulations of the Island Council to present allegations.”
Underfunded or oversized items
“It is unheard of that once again the main problem of the Island, such as water, does not have a clear and concise allocation in the budgets of the Island Water Consortium for new infrastructures, while in 2023, 3,000,000 euros were allocated, this year they have disappeared. On the other hand, the items destined for the treatment of Zonzamas waste also decrease by 1,480,166 euros, the items for Social Welfare in primary social care that decrease by 1,102,876 euros or the drug dependence service itself that is reduced by 2.2% compared to 2023. It seems clear that one thing is what is said and another is what is done”, argue from the UPY-NC coalition.
"The items that significantly increase their budgets are the advertising and propaganda items by almost 100,000 euros, and those for economic promotion for the development of 'Saborea Lanzarote', with 45% more, which translates into 1,522,000 euros. The item destined for cultural promotion, that is, the covered party area of the Lanzarote Island Council, increases by 72%, which represents a gross increase of 1,526,770 euros."
“It is clear that we still do not know if it will be a Government capable of solving the entrenched problems of Lanzarote, that remains to be seen, but it does seem evident that the president seems to live in regimes of opulence, squandering money, increasing superfluous spending on parties and events, but decreasing in works, infrastructures and social welfare. Lanzarote is not an emirate, it is an island that needs actions and solutions aimed at favoring economic diversification, increasing the quality of life of its citizens and adapting its infrastructures to the population of the island. None of this seems to be integrated into this Budget. This Budget lacks strategic ambition”, concludes Óscar Noda.
