The Orihuela council has completed it’s list of advisers and has now appointed a total of 23 positions, which have been approved by the PP and Vox government team.
After the first wave of appointments that was approved on August 1 by the Mayor’s Office, with 21 names, the mayor, Pepe Vegara, has recently completed the list, reaching the quota of 23 positions with a new decree signed on August 14.
The two new appointments are occupied by Llanos Párraga, who was a press advisor for the Bascuñana team during his seven years in government until July 2022; and Jose Antonio Martinez.
These 23 appointments are the same number as those held by the previous government team of PSOE and Ciudadanos. However, the cost for the municipal budget will be greater, since the government has approved increases in the salary of it’s advisers and in the compensation for the councillors who do not receive remuneration in the City Council.
Thus, the 23 advisers of PP and Vox will mean an annual outlay of 793,400 euros, compared to the 783,200 euros that the previous corporation.
The increase in the salaries contrasts with the statements made by the leader of Vox, Manuel Mestre, during his electoral campaign, in which he was committed to reducing public spending on this and other issues. Vox has six of those 23 positions, but their support was key to this general increase in the salaries of advisers that means that, for the same number of positions, the bill, far from being reduced, has increased by 10,200 euros per year .
Among the list of advisors are two former PP councillors, Dámaso Aparicio and Almudena Baldó; the former mayor of Redován, Emilio Fernández, who is a lawyer, and the president of the Association of Moors and Christians, Manuel Ortuño, who is the father of the Councilor for Festivals and Urban Cleaning, Rocío Ortuño.
Manuel Ortuño replaced Vegara in office after he resigned to be the leader of the PP, and now he will be an adviser in a City Hall where his daughter, as Councilor for Fiestas, will be responsible for providing financial support to the association of Moors and Christians over which he presides.
José Ángel Herrero will be working with Vox, which shares government with the PP in Orihuela, although he comes from Ciudadanos: he was Julia Parra’s chief of staff in the Alicante Provincial Council. For the Vox quota we can add Pascual Pertegal Vázquez, Héctor Mateo Sigüenza, the journalist Alejandro Ferrer Espinosa; Manuel Samper and the veteran Ramón Gambín Bas.
The remaining advisors come, for the most part, from the Emilio Bascuñana era, including Claudia González, who will work in Communication.
After completing the quota of 23 municipal advisers, the list is as follows:
Emilio Fernandez (PP). Level 1. Partial. 32,500 euros per year.
Jose Angel Herrero (Vox). Level 1. Full Time. 50,000 euros.
Claudia González (PP). Level 2. Full Time. 40,000 euros.
Manuel Antonio Ortuno (PP). Level 2. Full Time. 40,000 euros.
Almudena Baldo (PP). Level 2. Full Time. 40,000 euros.
Francisco Chumillas (PP). Level 2. Full Time. 40,000 euros.
Ruben Rodriguez (PP). Level 1. Full Time. 50,000 euros.
Javier Cifuentes (PP). Level 2. Partial. 24,000 euros.
Pascual Pertegal (Vox). Level 2. Full Time. 40,000 euros.
Blanca Angel (PP). Level 3. Full Time. 30,000 euros.
Damaso Aparicio (PP). Level 2. Full Time. 40,000 euros.
Raúl Fernández (PP). Level 2. Full Time. 40,000 euros.
Pablo Lorenzo (PP). Level 2. Full Time. 40,000 euros.
Jesus Plaza (PP). Level 3. Partial. €18,900.
Cristian José Berna (PP). Level 3. Full Time. 30,000 euros.
Hector Mateo (Vox). Level 3. Full Time. 30,000 euros.
Alejandro Ferrer (Vox). Level 3. Full Time. 30,000 euros.
Jesus Salinas. Level 2 (PP). Full time. 40,000 euros.
Manuel Samper (Vox). Part time. 24,000 euros.
Ramon Manuel Gabin (Vox). Level 2. Partial Day. 24,000 euros.
Manuel Ortuno (PP). Level 3. Full Time. 30,000 euros.
Maria Llanos Parraga (PP). Level 3. Full Time. 30,000 euros.
Jose Antonio Martinez (PP). Level 3. Full Time. 30,000 euros.
