The only mayor of the Compromís political group in the Vega Baja region, José Vicente Fernández, the mayor of Daya Vieja, has announced in the plenary session of the town hall the fragile financial situation in the town due to irresponsible management carried out by the 16 years of the PP government until 2019.
Fernández has denounced that the previous government team, led by the Partido Popular mayor, Rafael Vives, “committed through an agreement and in record time – began the process just twelve days after the start of the 2019 electoral period -, to develop a growth based on a General Urban Development Plan that increased the area of Daya Vieja fivefold, which was unrealistic and unsustainable, for which neither the Valencian Government (also governed by the PP at the time) nor the Segura Hydrographic Confederation ever gave the go-ahead.
In this sense, and a few days before the start of the municipal elections, the City Council signed an agreement with the Basque company Cinor-Gestión to carry out this urban development, and if it were not fulfilled, it committed the residents to indemnify the company with 5 million euro.
The mayor asked the opposition groups how they intended to deal with these clauses that indebt this town of 700 inhabitants by 9 million euro. And it is that Fernández reviewed yesterday the high indebtedness index of this municipality that in 2019 presented 3.9 million euro of debt and in almost three years of mandate it has been reduced by half a million euro thanks to responsible management of resources.
“For this town to return to financial health, we can easily be talking about a period of 12 years to pay off all the debt and for Daya Vieja to be a healthy municipality and we can be autonomous to spend on investment and hiring, which are the pillars fundamental for the local administration to be effective and we can also make discounts in municipal taxes”, lamented the mayor.
Fernández has recalled the events that have led the municipality to current delinquency levels. And it is that they approved budget after budget based on the expectations of urban growth raised in that order that was never approved, budgets worth 4 million euro in income and expenses that were unrealistic, skipping the principles of budget stability.
A good example is the 240,000 euro that the Council of Daya Vieja has already paid this year to some individuals for an unfulfilled agreement for the reclassification of land twenty years ago. The amount already compensated corresponds to 30% of the municipal budget.
“From the city council we are working to provide a solution to this unrealistic and unsustainable urban planning and that the residents of Daya Vieja do not have to face this mismanagement that would condemn us to decades without investment capacity to assume, even more so if fits, more debt. I want to remember that when we arrived at the mayor’s office, Daya Vieja’s indebtedness was 4,000 euro per inhabitant and that we have reduced it by half a million euro”, concluded the mayor.
