The mayor anticipates that the increase in the IBI tax rate will not exceed the maximum of 0.825 that was applied in 2012
Benidorm will increase the garbage rate to assume the new service costs imposed by national and regional laws
Toni Pérez affirms that aid, scholarships, investments and the quality of public services will be maintained
Benidorm City Council will debate in a plenary session next Monday the increase in the garbage rate to be able to assume the new cost of the service, derived from the approval and application of the new national and regional waste laws, promoted by the central and Valencian governments. in the year 2022. This was stated today by the mayor of the city, Toni Pérez, after meeting with the spokespersons of the three political groups with municipal representation to inform them of the proposal that will be raised at the plenary session. Likewise, the first mayor has also anticipated that a motion will be made to raise the IBI tax rate and, although he has indicated that the technicians have not yet quantified by what percentage it will be increased, he has denied the figures given so far by the opposition and has assured that "in no case will it go beyond the maximum of 0.825 that the PSOE approved in 2012, when we were going through a tremendous crisis and when there was also the largest cut in aid to families and the business community that has been made in this City hall".
During his appearance, the first mayor recalled that our country is "going through a complex moment, of great uncertainty and with a brutal increase in the shopping basket, energy costs or fuel costs", which have caused the CPI has grow to 21% in the last decade. And, although he has made it clear that "the economy of this City Council is now infinitely better than when we took office in 2015", he has also regretted that "a mayor cannot be told that he has to turn off the light on a street." to turn on another's, or the lights of a school or other public facility." In this sense, he recalled that the municipal coffers "have been assuming throughout this time with their resources these and other increases in costs that the law until today allowed us", something that "has nothing to do with economic solvency." of the Consistory.
In this scenario, and with "a more than probable return to the Budgetary Stability Law, which will prevent us from continuing to use the remainder of the town councils for anything other than investment or reduction of bank debt", the mayor recalled that the new laws 7/2022 on Waste and Contaminated Soil for a Circular Economy, approved by the Central Government on April 8, 2022, and 5/2022 of the Valencian Community, approved by the Generalitat on November 29, 2022, have caused The cost of collecting, transporting and treating waste “has increased by 129%, which means that the City Council has gone from paying 2,318,000 euros to the Waste Consortium in 2021 to 5,310,000 euros that will pay at the end of this year 2023”, three million euros more “while the residents of Benidorm have paid the same for the garbage rate in 2021 and in 2023”.
Next, the first mayor recalled that the very legal nature of the rates establishes that they must be used to pay the cost of public service, "so we have no choice but to raise it," lamented Pérez, who also recalled that it was “two socialist governments that carried out this brutal increase in costs, with the Popular Party voting against at all times.”
Given all this, "we are going to submit a proposal to the plenary session to raise the rate to around 70% because we are going to be able to continue doing more with less", something that the mayor has clarified "has nothing to do with the new street cleaning and collection contract because this morning, as was announced yesterday, it has been left on the table to make it a more open and transparent process.”
Lastly, and regarding the opposition's criticism of the alleged concealment of these data, Pérez lamented that “once again, they are once again failing to tell the truth, because the increase in the rate was something everyone knew because it is nothing more than the consequence of two laws that were approved and applied by Pedro Sánchez and Ximo Puig.”
On the other hand, the mayor has also anticipated that before Monday's plenary session, another proposal will be raised to increase the real estate tax, in a percentage on which municipal technicians are still working. In any case, he has advanced that this tax rate, which is currently set at 0.667 "will not in any case exceed the tax rates where the Socialist Party governs", giving as an example the cases of Dénia, Alcoy or Elda, with rates far above those of Benidorm. Likewise, Toni Pérez has also committed that this increase will not reach "in any case the tax rate that the PSOE applied with a series of cuts in basic services in Benidorm in 2012" when the tax was increased to 0.825.
In this sense, the councilor recalled that, since the pandemic broke out, the municipal government "has reduced this and other taxes and fees on two occasions", including the ICIO, fees for occupying public roads, etc. ., “while providing up to 23 million euros in aid to households, entrepreneurs and companies.” He has conveyed the commitment to maintain investments and the quality of public services, as well as “every one of the lines of help that, when necessary due to the vulnerability of families and the social and business fabric, have been injected”: “It is not worth raising the IBI to cut services, to not make investments, to not reduce debt but rather increase it and sit back. We have already experienced that here and it turned out very badly, but our political idea is different,” Pérez stated.
Finally, the mayor has also shown his desire that, once both proposals go ahead, “we will have the 2024 municipal budget raised to full status as soon as possible.”
