By José Luis Bahillo
"The expense report in 2010 of the "great captain" Suso Machín reminds us of that famous topic used by who was indeed The Great Captain in the service of King Ferdinand the Catholic, when he asked him for an account of the ...
"The expense report in 2010 of the "great captain" Suso Machín reminds us of that famous topic used by who was indeed The Great Captain in the service of King Ferdinand the Catholic, when he asked him for an account of the expenses he had incurred during the Naples campaign, at the end of the year 1506.
That rendering of accounts is fortunately distant and remains as an anecdote in Spanish popular culture, but, to our misfortune, we cannot say the same about Suso Machín's accounts and obligation to provide data, counts, and balances to the residents of the municipality of Tinajo.
In the extraordinary session of the information committee on accounts on August 4th (prior to the public display and approval in plenary session for 2010), just as The Great Captain did with his king, Suso Machín, following his dictatorial and populist line, tried to "ridicule" the councilors present and consequently the entire neighborhood by prohibiting any debate, denying relevant information, and the right to ask questions.
The response of that military man was to defy the king with an enumeration of exorbitant expenses in absurd concepts, ("?in picks, shovels, and hoes, a hundred million? ") but that directly alluded to the heroism of his soldiers and the victories achieved. On the contrary, the mayor of Tinajo does it for very different reasons: his tactic of secrecy and largely because he truly shows signs of ignoring the fundamental aspects of our municipality's accounts and how each result has been reached.
He is unaware (therefore denies) the formats or amount of information that he must make available before, during, and after to each member of said commission and, above all, to the citizens. He "confuses" the non-obligation to provide an official report of accounting results (because Tinajo is a municipality with a population of less than 50,000 inhabitants) with the commitment to provide explicit information regarding municipal expenses and income.
In any case, without ignoring that Tinajo has a debt of more than 5,000,000 euros, it must also be mentioned that Suso Machín's disastrous management is incurring unbalanced expenses and, practically at the same rate, is increasing, year after year, the deficit of the balances in the income accounts.
According to the data presented: in direct taxes (IBI, Vehicle Tax TM, and Garbage) the City Council has pending collection only in these three accounts 1,649,356.38 euros of the total pending collection as of December 31, 2010, which amounts to 4,543,902.88 euros. Up to this point, we could talk about a certain balance between recognized expenses and recognized pending income, but the real accounts demonstrate something more dramatic.
The City Council sporadically pays its debts (even if it means going further into debt with third-party financing) while losing part of the income pending collection, as in the year 2010, where it already accounts for 421,872.76 euros as a balance of doubtful collection, that is, income to be collected that will never enter the municipal coffers. Will the same happen with the debt of more than 800,000 euros for the CACT fee? Will our mayor continue to collect taxes from some to forgive those of others?
Time and events will reveal it, although to a large extent it will depend on whether the residents of Tinajo wish to continue resignedly assenting to Suso's work at the head of the "City Council of Mr. Machín". Not in my name.
Finally, I must highlight a positive aspect of the extraordinary session of the accounts committee: its celebration. This allows the public accounts of our municipality relating to the last fiscal year to be displayed to the public in the consistorial house, so the residents of the municipality of Tinajo can now consult these results, being exposed for 15 days. During these days, as well as the following 8, interested parties may submit claims, objections, or observations".
*José Luis Bahillo, PSOE councilor of the City Council of Tinajo
