With sports tourism all the rage, Pollensa town hall is to spend some of a cash balance of 32 million euros (under the 2020 budget settlement) on sports facilities. Spending on a series of projects was approved at Friday’s council meeting, and this includes 400,000 for tennis and padel courts and 150,000 euros for a skate park (and some general improvement) at the sports centre in Pollensa.
Well, maybe not sports tourism, but the spending will doubtless be welcomed, especially that for the skate park. The Olympics have helped to make the boom in skateboarding boom ever louder.
The spending on all projects by the town hall will amount to 2,772,000 euros. In addition, the Council of Majorca will be chipping in with some 570,000, so the total spending will be around 3.34 million. Sustainability and efficiency as well as sports are the justifications for the spending, with other projects being 1.1 million for redevelopment of the Cala Barques area of Cala Sant Vicenç; 1.2 million for an area by the Roman Bridge; 150,000 euros for shelters at the Puerto Pollensa taxi rank; 100,000 euros for energy efficiency at the Puerto Pollensa pool; 150,000 euros for more efficient lighting at sports facilities; and 80,000 for improvements to various municipal spaces.
Mayor Tomeu Cifre says that this spending will require authorisation from other bodies (when doesn’t it?), but “we hope to have approval as soon as possible, so that the works can go ahead”. All fair enough, though I can hear voices asking why there’s no spending on beach sustainability, as in doing something about the spills - this is because there always are these voices. But where the spills are concerned, the town hall is waiting for the study into contamination in the bay to be completed, while it is also hopeful of securing European funds for redoing the wastewater network.
As to there having been a cash balance of 32 million euros, the town hall says that this is for general expenses, though I’m wondering if it is the budget surplus, in which case there are still the Spanish government constraints on town halls’ spending, albeit that these have been loosened somewhat.