The plenary session in the municipality of Albox on Monday 11 March, was presented as transcendental, since among the thirteen points proposed for debate, was the approval of the general budgets that allow the normal functioning of the consistory.
Despite being the most important plenary session of the year, three UCIN councillors were absent, among them the former mayor and leader of this independent group, Francisco Torrecillas, which has put the internal situation of a fragmented group in black and white.
The mismanagement of the previous councillor was the government team’s line of argument to explain the «critical situation» in financial terms in which Albox Town Hall finds itself, as defined by the mayoress, María del Mar Alfonso.
With no councillor objecting to the figures, those attending the Plenary heard a breakdown of a series of debts and defaults which all residents must now face up to.
«There are unpaid bills from 2018, amounting to 2.6 million euros, 753,406 euros paid without budgetary appropriation, not a single euro of capital subsidies, staff costs were increased by 41%, from 2.84 million to 4.01 million and 1.6 million euros that correspond to the municipality within the Provincial Plans were not requested from the province,» said Juan Domingo Navarro, councillor for Finance, who defined Torrecillas’ management as «nefarious and irresponsible».
This means, in other words, that although a budget of 10.4 million euros has been approved, there will only be 481,153 euros in investments.
«This is the reality we have, in addition to a payment plan for various local suppliers who have not been paid. The people of Alboja have to know that this is a year of cost containment,» said the mayor of Alboja, while thanking all the councillors present for their support for the budget.
Unanimous support from all councillors
The plenary session held on Monday also showed that in Albox things are being done differently, with dialogue and seeking consensus, as argued the PSOE spokesperson, Mary Trinidad, when explaining her group’s support for the 2024 accounts. «We support the budgets out of responsibility, for the benefit of our town, for stability, because we are constructive opposition, attentive and scrutinising the government team, from the place where the people of Alboja have put us. The fact that 60% of the budget is allocated to personnel costs, hinders investments in other areas. In short, we support these accounts because we agree in general terms with the direction they have been given», assured Mary Trinidad.
For their part, the three UCIN councillors present also supported the budgets proposed by the government team, despite their harsh criticism of UCIN’s management during the last legislature. With disparate criteria, the councillors supported, voted against or abstained on each particular point, individually, outside any semblance of party or group discipline.