Calp City Council will settle all its debts with suppliers and increase the investments planned in this year's budget, after paying the 2019 bills with a cash balance of 6,275,103.13 euros. Yesterday, the plenary session of the Council, with the only votes for the government team (PP - Ciudadanos), finally approved the municipal budget planned for 2020, as well as the regulation of last year's budget.
With this balance, the City Council will settle the 777,168.98 euros that it still had outstanding as debts with suppliers, which in 2012 amounted to over 41 million euros, thus settling the debt two years earlier than in the loan. In addition, once the debts have been repaid, the city can use the rest of the remaining money for investments.
The item that will benefit most is the one destined for the rebuilding of the "urbanizaciones", which will increase from the 100,000 euros provided for in the budgets at the time of the original approval to a total of 752,660.38 euros. The asphalting of Avenida Diputación y Ejércitos Españoles is also planned, for which a sum of 250,000 euros has been earmarked.
On the other hand, these remaining funds will be used to finance not only the design but also the implementation of several projects such as the transformation and adaptation of the Plaza Mayor, for which an amount of 200,000 euros has been allocated, the work on the passage across the Pou Roig gorge with Avenida de los Arcitos Españoles and Avenida de la Vall de Laguar, and the E Ràfol-Empedrola II road, for which 320,775 euros have been allocated.
In addition, the City Council will be able to finance the fifth phase of the building for the city's music group with 350,000 euros and will therefore not have to make a loan with the Provincial Council as originally planned. And a sum of 400,000 euros is planned to repair the damage caused by the storm Gloria.
Rehabilitation of the Club Social
In addition to these changes, the 2020 financial statements will continue to include other projects already included in the original approval. Among the most important are the renovation of the Club Social La Manzanera and the construction of a pedestrian walkway connecting these facilities to the coastal strip, and the improvement of the external urbanization for a total of 1,400,000 euros.
This is one of the most anticipated initiatives that will allow the restoration of the Club Social, part of the emblematic complex of buildings designed by the architect Ricardo Bofill in Calp, for which the city has applied for the declaration of a Site of Cultural Interest for 2014.
Other planned projects include the construction of a games room, the lighting and ventilation of the Ifac pavilion, the completion of the Esplai Park or the acquisition of furniture to create a coworking space on the Excel-lència campus. The Red House will also be adapted for a family recreation unit and specialised workshops, a new access road to the institute, the continuation of the lighting plans and the installation of 500 new letterboxes.
As for the old town, the adaptation of the murals and the installation of new statues will continue to make this urban enclave more attractive.
The electronic data collection project for projects of tourist interest is also included, as well as the new 21st century tourist office or the installation of giant information screens.
In addition to these investments, these accounts also include a 5% reduction in property tax for 2020.
Mayor Ana Sala explained that these are budgets with "a future perspective, reflecting a healthy municipal economy and respecting the forecasts of the Financial Economic Plan 2019 - 2020", emphasizing the fact that all debts are paid with suppliers. In this sense, she recalled that in 2012 the City Council had outstanding invoices to suppliers of more than a thousand days.
Defendamos Calpe's spokesperson, Paco Quiles, explained that the budget available for Calp is the "largest" in the Valencian Community for populations of the same size and "that the potential resources that we all have as taxpayers are not reflected in the services that are a priority for the citizens of Calp," adding that in eight years the City Council's budget has increased from 30 to 40 million and that this increase "is not reflected in the benefits to citizens".