The PSOE has lamented "the lack of ambition of the government led by Oswaldo Betancort" after the plenary session on Thursday morning approved a budget modification to allocate 1,437,863.93 euros to the early payment of bank debt. And, the socialists regret that this million and a half euros "is not used for new investments that improve the lives of the citizens of the municipality."
According to the socialists, who abstained in the vote, the funds come from the surplus of the municipal accounts for the 2018 financial year, as a result of higher revenues and the low degree of execution of the investment chapter in the past year.
In this regard, they explain that the regulations allow the use of financially sustainable investments so as not to have to amortize debt with the surplus of the previous year and direct public resources to works and services such as sewerage, public lighting, local roads, highways, parks and gardens, etc.
Five million euros for the payment of outstanding debts
With this early amortization, the PSOE affirms that "the government group will have allocated five million euros this year to the payment of outstanding debts with the banks, since the budgets for the 2019 financial year contemplated 1,546,000 euros for debt payment to which must be added two million from a previous amortization and 1,437,863.93 euros approved in today's plenary session."
"We already knew about the difficulties of the current municipal government to execute the investments planned in the budgets, now we know their preference for allocating the positive treasury balances to pay bank debt instead of financing works and services demanded by the citizens," says the socialist spokesman in the Teguise City Council, Marcos Bergaz.
"We have some towns that long for investments"
"We have some towns and payments in the municipality that long for the investments of other times, watching the years go by without addressing necessary projects such as sanitation, the integral improvement of lighting or the improvement of roads and local roads. However, far from establishing an investment plan charged to these resources, they opt for the simple: amortize bank debt, when, in addition, the loans that are canceled have a reduced interest rate," Bergaz continued.
The socialist group understands that the corporation's budgets already contemplate "significant amounts" to face the payment of bank debt, and that the extraordinary resources from additional income or the non-execution of the planned investments should be directed to the works and services that the municipality needs and allows the current regulations.
"Of course, the PSOE defends a different management model than the one represented by CC and Oswaldo Betancort. We find it inexplicable that the current government with eleven councilors dedicated exclusively to the management of the City Council are not able to meet the requirements that would allow to use these public funds to improve the lives of our fellow citizens and choose to amortize more bank debt," concluded Marcos Bergaz.