The plenary session approves the increase in the garbage rate and the IBI tax rate, which is set at 0.82%

The plenary session of the Benidorm City Council approved this Monday in the ordinary session of October the increase in the garbage rate and the IBI tax rate, which will be set for next year at 0.82%. Likewise, other issues promoted by different municipal areas have also been agreed upon, such as Urban Planning, Citizen Security, Treasury or Festivals, as well as the creation of a Senior Care Office or an institutional declaration against sexist violence on the occasion of the celebration next November 25 of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, among other issues.

The plenary session of the corporation has agreed by the majority to the initial approval of the modification of tax ordinance number 17 regulating the rate for the provision of the service, transportation, valorization, and disposal of urban solid waste. A proposal that has been included in the agenda through extraordinary dispatches.

This modification is due, as explained by the Councilor for the Treasury, Aida García Mayor, to “cover the increase approved by the Zonal Waste Consortium 6, Management Area A1, as well as the amount that must be paid for the new taxes regulated in the National Law on Waste and Contaminated Soils and the Regional Law on Waste and Contaminated Soils for the promotion of the circular economy in the Valencian Community. “Some laws from the government of Ximo Puig and Pedro Sánchez.” The laws, state and regional, he said, “increase the estimate of the costs of the service for the year 2024”, which has been estimated at 129%.

“This is an increase of three million euros, a brutal increase,” said the councilor, who recalled that until now the increases “had been assumed with municipal resources, but given the amount to be assumed and taking into account that the rate "must cover the amount of the public service, as required by law, we are forced to make this modification to adapt it to the reality of the service and its costs, imposed by other administrations." The councilor has regretted that both laws “make it unsustainable for the City Council to be able to assume it without undermining other public services.” This means that the City Council has gone from paying 2,318,000 euros to the Waste Consortium in 2021 to the 5,310,000 euros that it will pay at the end of this year, 2023.” However, she pointed out, "the residents of Benidorm have paid the same for the garbage rate in the year 21 and in the year 23."

García Mayor has insisted that it was explained to the Board of Spokespersons that the point was going to go to the plenary session and that at that time it was pending reports and inspection. Likewise, he has denied that the political groups did not have the necessary information “because they have had it since the inspection was signed with all the documentation.” The councilor pointed out that the rate increase was “something announced since July 2022, when we learned about the laws. It is not because of the new contract, but rather it is an increase imposed by Sánchez and Puig.”

In that sense, she has specified that a large number of municipalities raise this rate.

“And they all adduce the same cause; the rise of the consortium and the state law. Cost increases that the national government has already charged us since last year.” This modification will mean an increase of around 70% in the garbage bill and will begin to apply from January 1, 2024.

Also urgently approved was the modification of tax ordinance number 1, which sets an increase in the IBI tax rate of 23%, so the tax rate will be 0.82%. The modification has its origin, as detailed by Aida García, in the “need to cover the needs of the different departments taking into account the costs of the different contracts for the provision of the municipality's essential services, as well as the forecast increase in generalized prices and compliance with the fiscal rules to be implemented in 2024.”

Thus, in addition to the tax rate for urban goods – which is set at 0.82% – rural goods will have a rate of 0.60%, and those with special characteristics will have a rate of 1.30%. This increase will take effect from January 1, 2024.

The Councilor for the Treasury has alluded to the fact that since 2015 Benidorm has experienced “a great greener, more sustainable and efficient transformation to the point of being a benchmark in all of this. The historical heritage has also been valued, the Municipal Land Heritage has increased, etc. And in ten years, however, the CPI has risen 21 points.” Despite these circumstances, he insisted, "We have used aid to avoid increasing the fiscal pressure with more than 23 million euros in aid", but he indicated that "today, maintaining and improving services is unsustainable with the resources that city councils have and the more than probable return of the Budgetary Stability Law” That is why, he continued, “we act with responsibility, transparency, and rigor.”

García Mayor has been forceful in pointing out that the increase is “quite smaller than the 73% increase announced by the PSOE and also below what the socialists raised in 2012 when they also increased the debt and cut services.” Furthermore, the councilor added that “the tax rate will be lower than in municipalities such as Denia, Elda, Alfaz del Pi, Alcoy or Gandía.

We want to continue being a modern destination and the measures adopted have been a containment dam for the disaster that was Covid. The decision is not capricious and we do not like it, but it is necessary and thoughtful. The context we are experiencing forces us to do so, even if we don't want to," concluded the head of the Treasury.

The municipal group of the PP has carried out by majority the dismissal of the appeal for reconsideration filed by the socialist councilors Cristina Escoda and Sergi Castillo against the plenary agreement of July 31, 2023, in which an addendum to the urban planning agreement of the PRI endowment was approved of the isolated action program in the area of plot ZC-1 of PP 2/1 Poniente, where the construction of the new athletics track is planned. The councilor for Urban Planning, Lourdes Caselles, has defended the dismissal of the appeal in its entirety, as supported by various technical reports. The PSOE voted against it, while the Vox councilor abstained.

Also in urban planning matters, the plenary session has agreed with the votes in favor of the Popular Party and Vox, and with the abstention of the PSOE, the denial of a modification of the 1990 General Plan, requested by the owner of a property located on Passeig de the Highway, for the elimination of the singular connection of said home. The corporation, based on the technical reports and a judicial procedure presented by this same individual, has largely agreed to deny this request considering that said property must maintain its unique status both due to its location and its construction characteristics.

Along these same lines, PP and Vox have also approved another proposal for the inadmissibility of the PRI's ex officio review request of the Magic Villa hotel in Benidorm, requested by the owners of five premises adjacent to this establishment. The Councilor for Urban Planning, Lourdes Caselles, has stated that throughout the processing of this PRI, it has not received a single allegation or appeal against it and has added that, although this ex officio review is a figure recognized by the law, In their writings, the interested parties “do not expose any of the cases of nullity by operation of law” required by the legislation, as stated in the technical reports. The socialist councilors have abstained.

Four different motions have been unanimously agreed upon, all of them raised by the Councilor for Citizen Security, Jesús Carrobles, for the granting of different recognitions to agents of the Benidorm Local Police. In this way, the Consistory will transfer to the Generalitat Valenciana the granting of a public congratulation to the agents Jesús Briz Walker, Vicente Miralles Sánchez, Guillermo Méndez Fernández, David Agüera Veitch, Gaspar Lloret Alemán, David González Vargas and Alejandro Ros Zaragoza, for their participation in different interventions worthy of public recognition. Likewise, the request for the granting of the Cross of Police Merit with Blue Badge has also been submitted to the Generalitat Valenciana for agent David González Vargas, after having carried out ten years of active service in Benidorm Local Police and accumulating several public congratulations. , as well as for standing out with notoriety and perseverance in the fulfillment of his duties as a local police officer. Councilor Jesús Carrobles thanked all these agents for “their commitment to the city and their good work” and highlighted “the important work carried out” by all members of the Corps.

Another issue that has been carried out unanimously by all groups has been the declaration of November 11 and 12, 2024 as local holidays in next year's work calendar, proposed by the Councilor for Holidays, Mariló Cebreros. Likewise, PP and Vox have supported by a large majority, and with the abstention of the socialist municipal group, another proposal from Cebreros to declare as Events of Local Tourist Interest the events called 'Invasion Mora (Pirate) de la Villa' and 'Castillo de Fuegos' New Year's Eve Artificials'. Cebreros has highlighted the tourist relevance of both celebrations, which take place on Levante Beach, and explained that, with this declaration, the way is paved for the granting of the corresponding permits by Costas.

On the contrary, one of the proposals that has remained unapproved has been the motion presented by the socialist group for the implementation of a Municipal Housing Plan, which has only obtained eight votes in favor from the PSOE councilors versus the abstention of Vox and the votes against the PP.

The last of the points included in the agenda of the ordinary plenary session was a motion presented by the Vox councilor, José Miguel San Martín, for the creation of the Municipal Mayor's Office, to which an amendment presented has been incorporated by the municipal group of the Popular Party. It proposed expanding the “dissemination of the services that, today, are provided to our seniors to improve their quality of life and to ensure their active participation in society” and creating the Senior Care Office, centralizing in she provides municipal care to the elderly in person, by telephone and electronically. The Councilor for Social Welfare, Ángela Zaragozí, has announced that municipal technicians are already working on the creation of this service.

On the other hand, and already in the turn of extraordinary dispatches, a Mayor's proposal has also gone forward with the votes of the government and the PSOE, heard by the Board of Spokespersons, in commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. In this proposal, the City Council reiterates “zero tolerance” for any violent action against women regardless of its intensity. The commitment to the State Pact against gender violence is also reaffirmed, “urging its renewal in the parliamentary seat by the commitment reached in the 14th legislature. Likewise, the City Council will continue to carry out awareness and education programs in schools and senior centers to prevent gender violence. The importance of coordination of all actors involved in this fight is also recognized to provide a response to the victims and the implementation of local projects and programs that promote the labor insertion of victims will be maintained. Finally, the proposal also includes assuming the commitment to evaluate the effectiveness of the measures implemented, in a process of continuous improvement, to ensure their adaptation to the increase in care and recovery of women.

At this point, the mayor has expressed his "absolute surprise" at the abstention of the socialist group when approving the incorporation to the agenda via emergency and has disgraced the municipal group of Vox that "if the proposal does not rise to full by agreement of the Board of Spokespersons has been because Vox did not agree.”

The plenary session has also agreed by majority to modify the representatives of the City Council in the Consortium for the execution of the provisions of the Waste Zone 6 plan, Management Area A1. Thus, the municipal representatives will be councilors José Ramón González de Zárate and Aida García Mayor.

With the vote of the local government and Vox, two extrajudicial lists of invoices worth 447,838.73 euros have been approved. The first, with number 83, amounts to 304,607.61 euros, and the second, number 84, amounts to 143,231.12 euros. The Councilor for the Treasury, Aida García Mayor, has indicated that this extrajudicial approval is carried out in favor of “the regularization of those expenses that in any of their management phases have seen the procedural rules regulating administrative contracting or the recognition of the obligations in their various variants.” An approval that is executed “by the principle of unjust enrichment, which would occur if the City Council, which has received the works, services or supplies, did not meet the invoices or expenses derived from them.” “This procedure is necessary so that companies and suppliers are not affected,” she added.

Finally, the cost study for the ordinary financing of the operation of the Benidorm wastewater treatment and sanitation facilities for the three years 2024-26 has also been approved for a total amount of 5,748,653.70 euros. The proposal includes the referral of the agreement to the Public Entity for Wastewater Sanitation (EPSAR) for the processing of its financing.