The mayor of València, María José Catalá, and the second deputy mayor and spokesperson for Vox, Juanma Bádenas, presented yesterday the first budgets of PP and the far right for the Valencia City Council. Accounts that grow by 7.11% despite undertaking a significant tax reduction: “València is the one that has lowered taxes the most of all Spanish cities,” said Catalá.
A “miracle” that is explained because the settlement of State taxes (84 million) has been positive, he admitted. A figure that led the PSPV to point out that the accounts are growing "thanks to the Government of Spain."
Among the big bets for 2024 of the new government, spending on security stands out: the council will allocate 278.1 million euros to security, 25% of the total, with the intention of reaching a Local Police staff of 2,007 agents (100 more places). Housing and cleaning will be the other priorities.
Regarding the issue of housing, Catalá wanted to emphasize that the expenditure allocated to this matter grows exponentially by 793% with 33.5 million euros allocated.
The budgets prepared by the PP for months and supported by Vox in the final sprint (Abascal's have managed to have an 11.7% increase in the resources of their delegations) demonstrate the good harmony between the two parties, despite the fact that they still , in the gestures, a certain discomfort is observed between its two main representatives. Bádenas did not want to remain without intervening yesterday after the mayor's extensive presentation, although he did so to say that Vox "is a great collaborating partner in municipal governance." His change of chip in a few weeks has been amazing.
The leader of Vox also wanted to announce some of his star measures such as the suppression of the nominative line that granted 243,000 euros to the unions.
Previously, Catalá - following in the footsteps of the Valencian Government - had announced the elimination of the 75,000 euros of direct aid to “Catalan entities” -Plataforma per la Llengua, escola Valenciana and La Societat Coral el Micalet- and the exponential growth to which it already existed at Lo Rat Penat. The first mayor announced, without quantifying it yet, that there will be agreements with the Royal Academy of Valencian Culture (RACV), the Mercantile Athenaeum or the Agricultural Casino. There are 1.2 million available and unallocated, his partner added.
There was also no specificity from the mayor when it came to specifying which bike lane projects would be executed and which would not. Of course, Catalá stressed "the planned execution is not going to be as it was designed." He appealed to the technical reports to change and modify some layouts and clarified that these will not make the City Council lose "external financing."
Regarding investments, Catalá pointed out that they grow by 30 million euros for urban projects such as technical studies for the burial of the Serrería roads, the drafting of studies on the plot of the industrial complex on Guatla Street or the Access Canal, whose investment in 2024 is reduced to 13.5 million euros due to Adif's delay in the pace of execution of the works, the mayor criticized.
