Benidorm allocates 10.2 million of its 2024 savings to finance ongoing projects and 19 million to repay debt

Benidorm City Council plenary session has approved today to allocate a large portion of the 2024 treasury surplus to finance projects currently underway, as well as to repay debt. Specifically, there have been two budget modifications, allocating €10,209,978.83 of this surplus to projects with earmarked financing and another €19,479,916.45 to repay part of the municipal debt.

The first budget modification, worth €19.4 million, approved by the majority of the local government, is being implemented to allocate part of the treasury surplus to repaying loans that the City Council maintains outstanding. Aida García Mayor, Councillor for Finance, noted in this regard that "with the fiscal rules once again in force, it is mandatory to allocate savings to repay debt, as required by law."

As a result of this early repayment, the ordinary repayment of loans will also change in 2025. García Mayor insisted that "with this operation, we are paying off part of the City Council's debt, which leaves us with very good results in this regard." She also clarified that "if we have to allocate it to repay debt, it is because Pedro Sánchez's government has so decided by returning to the fiscal rules that were suspended," the councillor added.

Regarding the second amendment, worth 10.2 million euros, it was unanimously approved "to provide budgetary allocation through an extraordinary credit for projects with earmarked financing that were not included in the previously voted amendment." The Councillor for Finance cited among these projects the access works to the PP 3/1 industrial estate, the augmented reality project for the Historical Heritage site, the expropriation of land on Calle Italia, the financing of wastewater treatment plant expenses, and the Mobility Plan for public transport.

On the other hand, the plenary session approved the agreement for the temporary transfer of the city's ecopark to the Consortium of the Zonal Waste Plan 6, Management Area A1, which regulates the conditions for the transfer of powers between the two administrations. This proposal was unanimously approved by all political groups.

Once the transfer is approved, the resolution will be communicated to the Consortium for final approval and also to the Regional Ministry, "so that the powers and responsibilities of each administration are recorded during the transition period of the agreement." Mónica Gómez stated that this is "a proposal that was unanimously approved in the plenary session in May 2024, which has all the favourable reports, and which is good for the city because it will represent significant savings for the municipal coffers."

The plenary session also unanimously approved the City Council's acceptance of the free transfer of use of the premises that housed the former courts on Avenida Beniardá, owned by the Generalitat (Catalan Government), for the provision of public services. The Councillor for Heritage, Jaime Jesús Pérez, stated that this is "the culmination of a process that provided for the decommissioning of the buildings" and expressed his gratitude for "the Council's commitment to Benidorm."

Furthermore, the submission to public information of the initial version of the Strategic Environmental and Territorial Plan and Study of the Environmental Assessment file for the lifting of the suspension of the 1990 General Plan for the Sierra Helada, L'Illa, and Sierra Cortina areas was approved by a majority vote, with the votes in favor of the PP and PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) and the abstention of Vox.

The Councillor for Urban Planning, Lourdes Caselles, explained that the General Plan "left these three areas suspended due to their landscape value until their environmental assessment, which is the phase that begins now." According to this initial version, "Illa has been left out of any development, Sierra Cortina does not even reach a third of what was the Partial Plan—only the southern part that borders the Residential Medical Sector—and in Sierra Helada, only a small pocket of land remains in PAU 2," Caselles specified. After the initial approval, the file will be transferred to the Regional Ministry for final approval. "Then an Integrated Action Plan will be submitted for each sector, and thus the urban development phase will begin, which has not yet begun." "These are areas suspended in 1990, and now the step is being taken to allow them to be developed," she concluded.

The proposal of the Detailed Study for the volumetric planning of the building for public use as a vehicle parking lot at 16 Mercado Street, which will be raised by two additional floors, was also unanimously approved. This required an economic appraisal to replace the commercial premises that would be transferred to the City Council. This appraisal was estimated at "just over €200,000 and will be used as part of the Municipal Land Assets."

In financial terms, invoices for services rendered were approved, with a majority of votes from the governing team. "Reported by the competent technicians and corresponding to basic services that, despite some specifications being put out to tender, must continue to be provided," according to Aida García, who specified that the technicians also determined that "they correspond to the work carried out and the prices are reasonable." The total of these invoices amounts to €965,361.57.

Likewise, a majority vote approved an out-of-court credit award of €701,685.50 for the payment of invoices for municipal building cleaning services. "We are working to avoid submitting invoices through this channel, but these are basic services that have been provided, and what is needed is to approve them," reiterated the Councilor for Finance, who specified that the majority of this expense is due to "covering the additional costs due to the increase in the minimum wage."

The session approved a PP motion urging the government to maintain full and stable 100% funding for the Co-Responsibility Plan "without cuts or delays" to ensure the continuity of the programs launched in 2021. The Councillor for Social Welfare, Ángela Zaragozí, stated that this plan "represents an essential resource to guarantee the right to care as a universal right and is not a simple aid program, but a key tool to transform our country's care model." She lamented the proposed 25% cut to the plan's budget compared to previous years. "It is an unacceptable situation," said the councillor, who described it as "irresponsible and unjustifiable" to make such an "unprecedented" cut, and for this cut to affect the Autonomous Communities and municipalities, with the budget year almost 50% executed."

Also approved with the votes of the PP and Vox, another motion from the Popular Party (PP) group was passed demanding that the Spanish government maintain the current operating rules for the Tagus-Segura water transfer while developing a National Hydrological Plan "that provides a definitive response to the current problems, allowing for a balance between the environmental needs of the Tagus and the survival of agriculture in the regions benefiting from the transfer," stated government spokesperson Lourdes Caselles.

The spokesperson criticised the established ecological flows because "they are not justified because they are not based on ecological reasons but rather on political ones." With the Ministry's new rules, she continued, "the consequences for the Spanish Levant will be devastating," and gave examples such as that in times of drought, the flow for irrigation could be reduced from 12.5 hm3 to just over one hm3." “This is a decision without technical or territorial consensus, and that turns its back on irrigators and farmers.

The Sánchez government is implementing a planned water blackout, and Alicante society cannot remain silent,” he added.
A motion from the Socialist group, amended by the People's Party (PP), was also approved. The motion, by which the City Council maintains its position of support for the Valencian Academy of Language and rejects any attack on the institution, was approved. The proposal received votes in favour from the People's Party (PP) government, abstentions from Vox, and a dissent from the Socialist group.

Similarly, another motion from the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party), also amended by the People's Party (PP), defending the rights of the LGBTI+ community, was approved. This amendment was not accepted by the PSOE, which opposed it, while Vox abstained. Ángela Zaragozí, Councillor for Equality, expressed her support for the Valencian Trans Law, "which supports prudence, freedom of choice, child protection, and parental involvement, among other issues." The councillor noted that the Valencian law "implements the protection of minors, with a comprehensive support process with their parents, caution in irreversible decisions, rejects 'express' surgical transition, and advocates that a diagnosis of gender dysphoria made by an adolescent cannot be unquestionable."

Finally, in today's session, the council was informed, among other matters, of the City Council's filing of an annulment motion against the ruling of the TSJCV (High Court of Justice) in Serra Gelada. It also reported on the budget execution for the first quarter of 2025 and the Audit Report on the City Council's 2024 internal control.