The mayor of Badalona, Xavier Garcia Albiol and the head of the opposition, Fernando Carrera, staged this morning the pact that endorses the municipal budget for 2024. An agreement that the first mayor of Badalona defined as "unusual" according to the appellants. political tensions between the PP and the PSC at the supra-municipal level. The pact guarantees the favorable vote of 22 of the 27 City Council councilors on the budget, which represents a historic percentage of 82%.
Carrera, president of the socialist municipal group, thanked the government for its predisposition and announced that "this is the opposition that we will carry out" during the mandate, aware, he said, that "a good opposition makes a good government." The socialist leader stated that "to influence governability you have to get to work" and for this reason he celebrated the "special sensitivity of the government."
The mayor, for his part, stressed that "despite the large absolute majority" of the PP in the City Council, he has chosen the option requested by the residents of Badalona and take advantage of the fact that "the PSC is willing to enrich the government's proposal with requests reasonable, acceptable and positive". He predicted that his predisposition to "bring together wills to improve the city" is an example that will continue over time.
Albiol also assured that "we have reached out to all the parties" but that they have only obtained a positive response from the PSC councilors. He admits, however, in conversations with other forces, "we are talking to ERC" without any specificity. On the other hand, referring especially to Guanyem de Dolors Sabater, the mayor stressed that "she ruled herself out in minute one of the mandate."
The first deputy mayor, Juan Fernández, yesterday outlined what he defined as "useful and acceptable proposals" incorporated by the socialist councilors into the budgets. In terms of Housing, the new service, already planned by the PP, will be provided with more staff to facilitate access to housing for the citizens of Badalona. The city's new Pla d'Habitatge will be designed along the same lines.
In the area of Economic Promotion, one of the socialist proposals involves the reimplementation of the Bons Comerç, a series of bonuses accessible to citizens that allow stimulating purchases on designated dates, which is also a benefit for local commerce.
The agreement includes a boost to the Comprehensive Donut Care Service (SIAD) with the incorporation of new professionals in the legal and psychological areas. They will study offering a municipal mammography service that would reduce check-ups from two to one year, a proposal that already had a financial allocation but which, according to Fernández "had not been spent in two years."
The PSC also emphasizes accessibility in budget agreements. Thus, an exclusive office will be created for these issues. In the area of Environment, the new proposal will allow the bathing season on beaches to be extended by improving lifeguard hours and services, as well as expanding the assisted bathing service.
As for Joventut, the agreement between PP and PSC will create a new youth center in the Sant Roc neighborhood, an option that, according to Juan Fernández "already had a provision for these spaces for young people who are abandoned." And in the Gent Gran council, leisure and complementary activities will be promoted, which, as La Vanguardia reported yesterday, consists of implementing a municipal Imserso service.
The proposals incorporated by the PSC do not alter the budgetary financial year. "We have sufficient financial resources," said the mayor. He cannot say the same about the number of officials he will need to drive the municipal machinery. "We are awaiting the incorporation of 110 new workers," he recalled.
