County councils demand an end to “underfunding” and warn that they are “at the limit”

by time news

“At the limit”. This is how he describes the situation of the finances of the Ripollès County Council its president, Joaquim Colomerwho also presides over the County Forum of the’ACM. He and other presidents of regional councils claim the Generalitat put an end to the “underfunding” of regional bodies. Colomer hopes that the Generalitat’s 2023 budget will provide them with more resources. If not, “it will be late again”, he warned. Several presidents of county councils are also asking for a change in the distribution of resources for the entities, although each with their nuances. The county councils also regret the delay in the payment of program contracts.

“The most logical thing is that, if a task is delegated to you, it should come with funding to be able to develop it”, reflects the president of the Regional Council of Solsonès, Sara Alarcon, who believes that until the financing of the regional administrations is resolved “it will be very difficult for them to have a minimum of consolidation and stability”. Alarcón adds that the underfunding of councils is a “natural” problem that has been pending resolution since the creation of these administrations, and that worsened from 2010 with the cuts, to the point of being ” underprivileged”.

“The feeling you often have is that you are the little sister of charity and that you almost have to go and beg other entities or local bodies to help you with part of the resources”, he laments, “you depend on institutional mercy to finalize projects that are necessary”.

The president of the Regional Forum of the ACM and president of the Regional Council of Ripollès, Joaquim Colomer, assures that the finances of the regional bodies are “at the limit”, and he hopes that the 2023 budgets will correct this situation. “If the budgets do not include this increase, we will be late again and it will mean that the Generalitat no longer trusts the regional councils”, he warns.

Al Vallès Orientalthe situation described by the President of the Council, emilio cordero, is similar: “We are about 350,000 euros below the correct financing”. Cordero admits that the Council’s financial health is “not very good”.

All of them, in addition, raise a reflection on the distribution of resources. The president of the County Council of theAlt Emporda, Sonia Martinez, points out that the funding is determined by the same criteria for everyone and demands that the “complexity” of each region be taken into account. In the case of Alt Empordà, a region with many small towns, a border and very seasonal tourism that causes many municipalities to multiply their population in the summer.

The president of the Solsonès Council claims to look in terms of “equity”: “It is not the same as the Regional Council of Barcelona that of Solsonès and giving the same answer for everyone means that there is a lot of ignorance of the reality of each body».

From a more populated region, Cordero also warns of a “grievance” because other councils with smaller populations receive the same financial sums, without taking into account the difference relative to the volume of population they have to cover. On the other hand, from Ripollès, Joaquim Colomer speaks of a “grievance” for less populated or mountain regions, because “services are provided according to the population, but not because of the uniqueness of the territory”. He argues that the distances between the 19 municipalities of Ripollès are very large and that the technicians have to allocate time and travel to be able to do the same work as other technicians in urban areas where “there are a lot of staff and more resources”.

Delays in the payment of program contracts are also another headache for county bodies. According to Colomer, this forces them to make credit modifications to be able to pay payroll or to have to guarantee services such as school transport while waiting for the money from the Generalitat to arrive. “Town councils can raise taxes, but regional councils can only claim more money from the Generalitat. If they don’t arrive, the council’s capacity dries up and worse services are provided”, he laments.

The president of the Regional Council of Alt Empordà reminds that the regional councils have very few powers of their own, since most of them are delegated by the Generalitat or by town councils, and warns that this ties them hand and foot. “We never know if a service will last more than four years and this always affects the service,” he says. Added to this, he adds, are the scales which mean that, for example, this year they will be provided with a single technician who will have to be in charge of making all the accessibility plans in the region: “We will have the same as has the Plan de l’Estany, with the difference that there are 68 municipalities in Alt Empordà”. For cases like this, he asks that the “complexity” of each region be taken into account.

For Martínez, councils should have more direct powers, such as in the field of security or that of secretaries and auditors, in the latter case so that they could manage them directly.

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