Palma town hall had anticipated taking in fines revenue of 24.8 million euros in 2020. In the end, fines totalling 20.8 million euros were handed out. By the end of December, 11.8 million had been collected; 42% lower than in 2019.
In 2019, 21.2 million euros had initially been forecast. The total value was 25.9 million, of which 20.5 million euros were collected. The difference between what was levied and what was collected by the end of 2020 can be put down to the economic crisis caused by the pandemic.
For traffic offences, the income from fines fell by more than a third from 12.9 million euros to 8.3 million. Of this latter amount, 7.5 million applied to residents; the rest was for non-residents and tourists. The 870,000 euros for non-resident drivers was higher than the amount for 2019 - 724,473 euros - despite there having been so little tourism last year. This is because the payment requires a long administrative process; the town hall contracts a company to collect these sorts of fine on its behalf.
The initial forecast for traffic fines revenue in 2020 was 15.9 million euros, which was up from 13 million in 2019. The total amount levied was 13.3 million, while the actual collection was 8.3 million.
For planning infringements, the forecast was 900,000 euros; only 407,000 euros had been collected by the end of the year. In 2019, the income was 862,000 euros, higher than the forecast 850,000 euros.
The opposition Partido Popular at the town hall believe that the significant drop in traffic fines revenue reveals "the clear intention to collect money by installing new speed radars at strategic points". Councillor Julio Martínez claims that this is "in order compensate for the drop in last year's collection, which will also affect the current fiscal year".