Pilar de la Horadada Town Council has won an important legal victory against Acciona Agua over a municipal tax linked to the use of public land.
The High Court of Justice of the Valencian Community has ruled that Acciona must pay the council €370,392.18, plus late-payment interest, for the 2022 financial year. The money relates to the company’s use of municipal public land, airspace and subsoil while operating the town’s drinking water and sewage service.
The court rejected Acciona’s appeal and confirmed an earlier ruling by the Administrative Court of Elche. It also upheld the payment approved by the council’s Local Governing Board.
At the centre of the dispute was whether Acciona could be charged this municipal fee in addition to the concession payment it already makes to run the water and sewage service.
THE COURT SAID YES.
According to the ruling, the concession fee and the public-land-use tax are not the same thing. The concession fee is paid for the right to manage the service. The tax is paid because the company uses municipal infrastructure, land, airspace and underground areas to provide that service.
The judges said there was no evidence that Acciona had already paid for this use through its concession fee. For that reason, the court found there was no double charging.
Acciona argued that it should not have to pay because the water and sewage service belongs to the council and the company is only managing it as a concessionaire. It also said the tax had existed since the contract was signed in 2007, but that the council had not collected it for around 15 years.
The court rejected that argument too. It said the fact that the council had not collected the fee in previous years did not mean it had lost the right to demand payment later. The ruling also states that a town hall cannot simply waive a tax that is backed by a municipal ordinance.
The company also asked for the amount to be reduced, but the court refused, saying Acciona had not proved that the deductions it claimed should apply.
The case began after Pilar’s PP-led council launched a legal battle to recover the fee, arguing that it was included in the rules but had not been collected by previous administrations.
Acciona must also pay the legal costs. The company can still, however, appeal to the Supreme Court, particularly as the ruling may have wider consequences for other municipal services and future concession contracts.
