As noted in the Bulletin yesterday, Alcudia town hall has 56 million euros sitting in the bank, yet it is restricted in how it can invest this money because of budgetary stability law as it affects local authorities.
Mayor Toni Mir has explained the situation further, saying that the town hall has not received a response from the national finance minister, Cristóbal Montoro, to a letter that was delivered a month ago. This letter was handed to Montoro by the regional finance minister, Catalina Cladera, and it called for the town hall to be allowed to spend money on more than just "sustainable investments". By these he means maintenance and improvement for existing infrastructure. The stability requirements make investment in new infrastructure that much more difficult.
Mir points to the "nonsense" of the town hall having this money but being unable to make necessary investments and to increase the number of employees. Among projects that he defines as necessary is one for installing a proper sewerage system in the Manresa area of the municipality. On employees, he notes that the town hall could do with having twice as many for the likes of maintenance work, while it only has a part-time architect to handle a rise in building and planning permissions.
The mayor is proposing that pressure be brought to bear on Madrid by town halls that are in a similar situation to Alcudia. He wants the national federation of municipalities and provinces to press the government in order to arrive at a solution that is "fair in enabling service to be given to the citizens" The law, as it stands, adds Mir, is "unfair" and prevents "healthy town halls" from being able to invest their surpluses.