The answer that the Barcelona’s town hall will give to the crisis of the Covid-19 It should not mean any decrease in your budgets or cuts. On the contrary, the Great House You have to have enough muscle to make new commitments derived from the serious situation generated by the coronavirus. And this happens to have 400 million euros this year, 90 million of which for actions directly related to the emergency and reactivation. This means modifying the 2020 budget, the highest – 3,033 million – and with the most political support – 33 of the 41 councilors, from four different groups – in its history. Expansive accounts with a great weight of social and environmental policies to which now we must add reconstruction post pandemic. This is the objective of the government of Ada Colau and on which he seeks the complicity of the opposition in the framework of a process already underway for an agreement to relaunch the city.
Representatives of all municipal groups participated yesterday in a meeting to discuss the modification of the accounts, which was carried out with good tone. The government team presented a report specifying some figures that give an idea of the very strong impact of this crisis in the year and a proposal for rebalancing. The forecast is to reach a pact before the summer holidays and then approach the 2021 budgets from a similar perspective.
The projections presented foresee a mismatch of 310 million, due to a decrease in income of 243 million and the assumption of expenses incurred by 67 million. Some examples. It is expected to receive 39 million less in transfers from the State; 66 million less in rates related to public space (parking and tourism, among others) and 69 million less in capital gains and works tax. The companies and municipal institutes will generate a mismatch in the accounts of 43 million and the ATM, 19 million.
Sue Sánchez
The city government sees it essential to use the remainder of previous years
To balance the numbers, the government team plans to have 400 million, so that there would still be 90 million for a specific crisis response fund for social emergencies, to revive the economy or adapt mobility and public space, actions that have already begun to be carried out and which must find accommodation in the new accounts.
Those 400 million are the sum of 160 million of cash remaining, the result of surpluses from previous years, that the City Council trusts that the central Executive will allow to use; 90 million to postpone to 2021 investments this year; 65 million not spent due to the stoppage of activity due to the state of alarm; 60 million from the contingency fund and 25 million savings in non-essential expenses.
The use of the remnant is key. The first deputy mayor and head of the municipal economic area, Jaume CollboniIt was very clear yesterday: “It is essential to have this piggy bank, we ask the Government to do the same to the municipalities as it asks the European Union for the states, to make spending more flexible”, because, he stressed, “the response to this crisis does not happen to cut but to spend ”. Along the same lines, the councilor for the Presidency and Budgets, Jordi MartíHe asked, “What is the point of savings if they cannot be used for an emergency?” The latter also insisted that the Executive of Pedro Sánchez it must contribute funds to the municipalities, as it has done to the autonomous communities, to which it will allocate 16,000 million. Cities require help above all to compensate for the public transport deficit, he explained.
Financial muscle
The low level of indebtedness gives scope to assume new expenses
This proposal is a starting point, Martí stressed, to which municipal groups can propose changes. The low level of indebtedness of the City Council – 29% of its annual current income when it is recommended to be below 60% – gives margin. The municipal government is in favor of paying part of the cost overruns with its own funds – its savings – and another by resorting to medium and long-term debt.
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