The Calp City Council plenary session, with the support of all the city's political groups, initially approved the granting of direct aid to local businesses to mitigate the losses caused by the COVID 19 pandemic.
To this end, the City Council also unanimously adopted a budgetary amendment in plenary session, which makes it possible to allocate 1,000,000 euros to this aid. The aid will be between 1,000 and 600 euros and will be targeted at both self-employed people and small businesses operating in the municipality of Calp.
In particular, aid of EUR 1,000 will be granted to self-employed persons, micro or small enterprises with more than 10 employees and EUR 800 to enterprises with a maximum of 10 employees who had to close with the declaration of the state of alert. On the other hand, aid of 700 euros will be granted to self-employed persons or small businesses with more than 10 employees and 600 euros to businesses with up to 10 employees who are not affected by the closure ordered in the state of alarm and whose turnover has fallen by 50%.
Any self-employed person or small enterprise wishing to apply for this aid must have been registered without interruption in the relevant special scheme for self-employed persons or Mutua (mutual association) or in the general social security and tax scheme for at least the period from 31 December 2019 to 14 March 2020 and must also remain in business for at least six months from the day following publication of the decision to grant the aid.
On the other hand, those who have received other subsidies for the same purpose from another public or private administration or body, be it a State, the European Union or international organisations, may not apply for this aid.
The directives which have been provisionally adopted will now be made available to the public.
Defendamos Calpe's spokesman, Paco Quiles, has pointed out that the guidelines can be improved and should be adapted to the reality of Calp. And in this regard, he believes that the criterion for assessing the reduction in income of companies that did not close during the alarm period should not be the average turnover in the previous six months, which correspond to the winter months in Calp, a period in which the companies have a lower turnover than in the summer, and in this sense should be considered "fairer" when compared to the months of March and April last year, "where you would see that their turnover has decreased compared to the previous year.
The spokesman of Compromís, Ximo Perles, has called for a larger budget for the aid. And he has proposed that the money be used for other types of aid, that is, those intended for a specific objective, and which are used because of COVID-19, as is the case with the various festive celebrations.
For his part, the Social Democratic spokesman, Santos Pastor, spoke out in favour of all measures to minimise the impact of this pandemic, while pointing out that he disagreed with the requirement to register with the social security authorities without interruption from December to March, as many companies cease their activities in the low season and are therefore not eligible for aid.
For his part, the spokesman for Ciudadanos, Juan Manuel del Pino, has stressed that he supports these measures and that new points will probably have to be added as "we still have a long way to go" in this crisis caused by the coronavirus.
Mayor Ana Sala stressed that the earmarked subsidies could only be abolished if the beneficiary associations presented a document waiving them, as the five guilds and fraternities of the Easter of Calp have done, to which each of them was entitled to a subsidy of a 1,000 euros. They have asked that the 5,000 euros for COVID-19 aid be made available, as the Mayor has promised.
Extension of the social emergency aid
In addition, the plenary decided to extend social emergency aid under COVID-19 by 152,000 euros for food, hygiene and pharmacy products for families at risk. This amount comes on top of the 80,000 euros already allocated to this aid in April and the 256,375 euros in March, which were distributed to help and to recruit four people for the home help service.
IBI (real estate tax) Discount
In addition, it was decided off the agenda not to apply the suspension of the administrative deadlines and dates that came into force with the declaration of the state of alert for aid for the costs of the first home. The bases for these grants were initially approved at the April plenary session, but when the administrative deadlines were suspended, the procedure was stopped.
This is the second year in which subsidies are granted towards the costs of the first home, which are aimed at the long-term unemployed and pensioners with limited means, who are registered in the IBI (property tax) of the year preceding the call for tenders may receive a discount of up to EUR 400 and up to 75% of the tax amount.
The aim is to speed up the processing of these subsidies so that they are "another addition to the subsidies" that the most disadvantaged groups can currently receive, said Mayor Ana Sala.
Boardwalk occupancy tax
Another point that was decided was to amend the regulation regulating the occupation of public streets in order to abolish the fee charged for occupying tables and chairs on terraces.
The payment will be suspended as soon as this change is approved in the BOP (Official Gazette). In the meantime, the part paid by the hoteliers that coincided with the impossibility of opening due to the alarm condition will be refunded.
This point was unanimously approved.