This week, the residents of Sitges will be able
to choose five proposals among the seventy two that went past the constraints
of the participatory budget. For the first time, the City Hall of Sitges will
allocate a significant part of their investments (a total of 1 million Euros)
to actions that will be directly chosen by the people in a clear sign of progress in democratization
processes and participation of institutions. As soon as it has been possible once removed
legal limitations (if we did not do that before, it was because the law did not
permit it), we have launched this initiative that will channel new forms of
participation and that will foster a better linkage with local government...
But today, I would like to reminisce and, with
your permission, to speak about the causes that allowed the City Hall to invest
one million Euros in actions decided directly by the citizens... Those are the
same reasons that allowed us to announce the reduction of IBI (property tax)
for 2015 from current 0,93 to 0,83, a substantial cut, far more than the
proposals of opposition groups.
And such causes are not other that the radical
turn of municipal finances. When we came into office,
in June 2011, the City Hall was broke. The debt had reached 67 million Euros; in
a municipal corporation the size of Sitges it was a catastrophe that threatened
the very existence of the institution.
But three and a half years later, the picture
has changed substantially. The accounts of the City Hall are sound with all the
difficulties implied in the current context, but with the necessary strength to
perform all the recovery and improvement measures undertaken by the government.
During the summer of 2011, payment terms of the
City Hall amounted to 30 months. Now, payment term has
decreased to 30 days after presentation of invoice. In the summer of 2011, the
Purchasing Department of the City Hall had serious problems finding industrials
wanted to make business with the City. The uncertainty hovering over pending
accounts and irresponsible management led to a critical situation that placed
us in an extremely difficult position. Now, the City Hall works with criteria
that care for public spending.
When we came into power, we initiated a thorough
rationalizing of spending, important cuts
in staff and positions of trust of the City, the improvement of management
processes and debt renegotiation with banks, the municipal accounts went back
to normal and, more importantly, now allow to promote new social policies,
public investments and reductions of tax burden.
This is what helped us create, among other
initiatives such as the plan to boost economic activity and job growth (with
aid to small entrepreneurs who want to create their business in Sitges), the promotion
of the Advertising Festival (which will enhance again the brand Sitges and
generate economic activity). The balance of accounts also allowed to help the
most vulnerable families with a “Carnet Blau” (Blue Card) (to obtain discounts
and reductions in public services and tariffs) or program improvements (such as
the reform of the library or the next improvement of the seafront promenade). .And now, the new participative budget of 1 million that residents will vote
this week.
