The plenary session held on Thursday afternoon in Pego served to approve this year's budgets. The government team, made up of PSPV and Ciutadanas Pego, presented and voted in favor of the document for the 2022 financial year. The total amount of 11.573.232,23 euros represents 5,29% more than that of 2021, when there was 10.992.036 euros. In the vote they did not have the support of the opposition. Ciudadanos and the Popular Party abstained, while Compromís voted against.
"These are realistic budgets designed for the people, as well as for the economic reactivation of the municipality," clarified the Councilor for the Treasury, Juanjo Arbona. The mayor assured that the accounts “have been formulated without a deficit; the necessary appropriations have been provided to meet all ordinary expenses; and, in addition, the income forecast is real. We have planned them taking into account the income for the 2021 financial year and the first months of 2022.”
The mayor responsible for the Treasury stressed "the will of the government team to work to reduce the debt." Arbona remarked that the council has managed to reduce said debt by 661.482,24 euros, “so that at the end of 2022 the total debt of the City Council will be 2.125.931,73 euros. We must take into account that this executive entered the government with a debt of just over 8 million euros.
“Increase in the item dedicated to social policies”
The accounts of this 2022 are characterized, pointed out the mayor of the Treasury, by an increase in the item dedicated to social policies, 25,43% more than the contribution compared to last year. The increase is due to a greater increase in the allocation allocated to the Mancomunidad de Serveis Socials de l'Adsubia i Les Valls and also to the different non-profit associations in the municipality. “We have made an effort not only to maintain these grants, but we have also included new associations that receive said contributions, such as the Pego Musical Group or Visibles Colectiu LGTBI+; and the contribution to others has been increased in order to support the work they are doing for the benefit of the town”.
In the social policy section, the investment of 10.000 euros for the adaptation and acquisition of furniture for the new Punt Jove facilities also stands out.
Another important point for the government team and reflected in the 2022 budgets is security. For this, a total of 18.000 euros has been allocated for the installation of security cameras, as well as 3.500 euros for improvements to Local Police vehicles.
“Nearly 100.000 euros to promote measures to promote equality”
Arbona also defended the importance of promoting equality, "the City Council has nearly 100.000 euros to promote measures to promote equality between women and men." The mayor recalled that currently 107 women and 70 men work in the town hall, "without discrimination in terms of positions of responsibility."
The head of the Treasury also highlighted the economic section aimed at improvements in sustainability; among them, urban real estate improvements: “11.000 euros for the acquisition of furniture for parks and gardens, or 10.000 euros for public lighting improvements”. And another 12.000 euros to facilitate recycling for neighbors, with the installation of recycling mupis, "we are not going to discuss here the need we have as a society to recycle, to achieve the SDG objectives and to leave an optimal future for new generations. The City Council of Pego has shown for yet another year that it is aligned and aware of the fulfillment of the SDG objectives”.
«The library in the old Cervantes school will be financed via remnant»
Arbona also wanted to highlight that some of the most important investments “will be financed via remnants, such as the construction and adaptation of the library in the old Cervantes school. And we also hope to be able to put out to tender the adaptation works for the Rosalía Bondia school”.
“The Ciudadanos proposal was intended to promote the arrival of companies”
After the exposition of the mayor of the Treasury, the representatives of the opposition groups took the floor. The representative of Ciudadanos, Simón Ortolá criticized the "delay in the presentation of the accounts" and indicated that the negotiations "could have been much more intense." Ortolá explained that the bet of his party is to encourage the arrival of companies to the town, to reduce expenses to the City Council, specifically that of personnel, which seems to me to be too high.
The mayor of Citizens also presented an amendment to the budgets, "of social significance": the increase in aid items for the Holy Week brotherhoods. “Raise them from 400 euros to 1.000 for each brotherhood and up to 7.1000 euros for the Central Board of Holy Week. Of course, each brotherhood and the Board must justify said expenses.” According to the mayor, "it is a proposal that enriches the culture of the municipality." The amendment was included first, and later approved with the votes in favor of the government team (PSPV and Ciutadans Pego), PP and Ciudadanos; while the members of Compromís voted against.
Popular Party: "Most of the proposals have not been taken into account"
For his part, the spokesman for the popular group, Ferran Gonzàlez, also mentioned the "delay in presenting budgets, we are already halfway through the year." The mayor of the PP also regretted that, after sitting down to negotiate the accounts with the government team, "the majority of the proposals that we have presented to them have not been taken into account, they told us that they were unfeasible." Among these, the drop in endowment in items such as Fiestas or Advertising, as well as a reduction in some taxes through bonuses. Regarding the reduction of the city council's debt, he asserted that it is "compliance with the law, it is nothing exceptional."
Despite the disagreement between the two parties, the popular decided to abstain from the vote, "because we want the townspeople not to be harmed," Gonzàlez said.
Compromís: «For what remains, it could work with the extended budgets»
From the Compromís group they also insisted on the delay in presenting the accounts, “they arrive late, they are not presented on time and we have not had time to study them in detail either. Now, for what is left, it could work with the extended budgets, ”said the spokeswoman, Anna Sastre. The mayor described as "mockery the amount to negotiate the money budgeted for this year, only about 300.000 euros, the rest already have a destination." She also assured that she did not agree with the content.
Regarding the proposal presented by the mayor of Ciudadanos, the Compromís spokeswoman criticized that "this type of proposal is always nominative, because a network of patronage is created."
Mayor Enrique Moll was the last to take the floor to reply to the opposition spokesmen. The city councilor stressed that the personnel expense section "is almost 50% of the budget, it seems that it is more than in the budgets of other corporations, but it is that they did not include in the corresponding section (the first section of the budgets) agencies dependent on the City Council such as Ràdio Pego or the residence for the elderly”.
Enrique Moll, mayor of Pego: «The City Council owed 8 million euros, we have been reducing the debt to a million per year»
He insisted that the budgets "are not only for the remaining months of the year, but for the 12 of 2022, it is not an easy job." He also wanted to answer the mayor of the PP regarding the reduced debt, “we entered and the City Council owed 8 million euros, we have been reducing it to a million per year. You could pay more, of course, but leaving the coffers empty”.
Finally, the mayor reproached the words of Compromís, "what if it is a mockery is that in the first meeting we had with you, you did not make any type of proposal and that we would see each other in plenary session." In addition, he pointed out that all the aid that goes to associations in the municipality "is justified, we also try to help all kinds, whether cultural, sports or of another nature, as long as we work with total transparency."
