A few weeks ago, the Municipal Council carried out the initial approval of the budget for City of Sitges 2017. It took only six votes against 21 of the full house, in a clear sign that shows that it was a mainstream document that shared a wide political consensus and the willingness to negotiate of government and almost all municipal groups that in one way or another, reached agreements that have been reflected on the budget. In early March, the Full House must agree on the final approval of the budget that will come into force automatically.
The budget for 2017 is over 42 million € and involves an increase of 2% compared to last year. The items that recorded this increase were those of Social Welfare, Culture, Sports, Education and Public Roads. The increase in these items is designed to implement the planned action in the Mandate Plan, prepared by the two local groups that currently make up the government of the City (PDeCAT and DC, on one hand, and ERC on the other).
Among the actions contained in the budget are the beginning of long-awaited projects, such as the construction of school Agnès de Sitges, which is possible thanks to an agreement between the City Council and the Catalan Government, which specifies that the new building will be built between the 2017 and 2019. The budget also includes other important investments, such as a new rugby field, which will give a definitive answer to the situation of temporary facilities that characterized this sport in Sitges since its inception 25 years ago. Also, there are other important activities, such as the necessary reform of the different sections of the Promenade, the reform of the Town Hall, improvements in the field of Aiguadolç municipal football field, the new civic center of Les Botigues or improving access to Garraf, among other projects aimed at improving infrastructure facilities and the map of the town.
The budget also includes a social action plan aimed at preventive actions on the most disadvantaged groups, but also to intervene in situations of greatest need. These are actions that are part of our program silos people, which last year brought 600,000 extra enabling social services. This year, we increased investments and the number of professionals working in this field. Objective: people.
Meanwhile, the budget foresees an increase in investments in public roads, perfectly aware of the problem we have in this area, especially during the summer months. Last year, we increased items for cleaning services almost half a million Euros, this year we envisaged a special endowment for gardening services to improve green areas of the municipality.
There is very relevant budget item in 2017: municipal spending per inhabitant in Sitges amounted to 1419.53 Euros, well above the national average in the municipalities having between 25,000 and 30,000 inhabitants which are 1098.32 Euros. The investment per inhabitant in Sitges amounts to 86.21 Euros, while the national average is 61.20 Euros.
And all this increase in budgetary resources does not increase debt, just the opposite. In 2017 we will reduce the debt of the City Hall placing it significantly below the national average, despite the difficult scenario of municipal finances in 2011 when debt level was excessive.
It is a good budget and to make it really effective, the challenge we have now is to improve processes and municipal management. If we succeed, we would have been able to reverse in a few years a very severe situation to a moderately favorable one.
It is a good budget and to make it really effective, the challenge we have now is to improve processes and municipal management. If we succeed, we would have been able to reverse in a few years a very severe situation to a moderately favorable one.
