The largest budget in the history of Badalona City Council (Barcelonès Nord) with 223,577,693.20 euros will be for 2024 and has been approved with 89% of the possible votes, of which 7% were abstentions and 11% votes against, in the extraordinary plenary session that was held today.
As expected, the approval with the vast majority of votes from the Popular Party, but not with unexpected abstentions from the municipal groups of PSC and ERC, which evidenced a change in strategy, which, as stated by the president of the socialist group, Fernando Carrera, “ “We will be proactive and we do not like to look back.” Àlex Montornès, from ERC, also justified his abstention by “not having a thirst for revenge and the desire to build real policies.” An idyll that will materialize with the completion of investments proposed by the two major opposition parties.
The socialist spokesperson was unusually brief in his interventions, but he acquired the greatest prominence in the plenary session by showing his willingness to reach an agreement with the Popular Party, to whom he recognized “a very absolute majority.” Fernando Carrera admits that “the most comfortable position would have been to vote against,” he said, throwing the dart towards his left, while thanking him for the dialogue offered by the García Albiol government, with whom he has already held several meetings and contacts. Precisely, the mayor, who appreciated the vote of socialists and Republicans, stated that "if we can agree, the city will win."
The person in charge of preparing the municipal budget through what he defined as “financial microsurgery”, the Councilor for Treasury and Finance, Juan Fernández, emphasized the government's priorities that have been reinforced in the municipal accounts, such as the 15 million that will be allocated to modernize the local administration and increase the workforce, filling some 110 vacant positions and adding another 14 to the electronic administration, the housing department and to staff the new department against illegal occupations. “It is the best budget in recent decades,” he stated, highlighting the renewal of service contracts that had expired, such as street cleaning, “one of the government's priorities” that increases by six million.
The strategy of looking back is the one used by other municipal groups in the opposition, such as the one led by Dolors Sabater, from Guanyem Badalona en Comú, who took credit for initiating the restructuring of the City Council in 2016, with the proposal of modernization, which would be revalidated again in 2020. “We had already planned all of this,” he assured, in an attempt to undermine the performance of the current executive. Or also Àlex Montornés, from ERC, who wanted to explicitly remember that "in 2022 we had already unblocked the financial situation of the City Council" but, he recalled that "you - in reference to the PP - did not want to negotiate" and therefore "blocked the government of the city until one year before the elections.”
During the interventions, the Republican spokesperson stressed that it is a budget with a clear ideology, contrary to what the mayor expressed at the beginning of the session. “They do not reinforce the housing office, but instead they do so with the occupation office” which shows “a clear ideology” in the budget. “They have increased the waste rate well below its real cost.” He also gave as an example the increase in the budget for security: “If they say that the security index is lower than that of other municipalities, why increase the amount?” he asked himself. And to conclude, in reference to the previous mandate, he showed that “if things had not been done well, now they would have had to raise taxes.”
Aida LLauradó, the spokesperson for En Comú Podem, regretted the lack of will for consensus and citizen participation, as proven by the low attendance at the Public Hearing. She criticized and justified the negative vote with what she considers “an increase in rates and taxes such as the IBI” which in her opinion “was unnecessary if we do not spend the money from the previous budget.” Llauradó summarized what she predicted as the usual trend for the legislature: “they have no will to listen to the opposition.”
The only representative of En Comú Podem, the president of the CUP group in the Parliament, Dolors Sabater, reasoned her negative vote on the budget in what she defined as “disguised cuts.” The pro-independence spokesperson reasoned that if the situation of the City Council is critical, it is due to the imposition of the austerity rules dictated by the previous PP government in the State, which "caused the loss of a quarter of the staff."
To conclude, the mayor, Xavier Garcia Albiol, after thanking the predisposition of socialists and republicans, replied that “it is not an ideological budget” but rather the fact of increasing cleaning, surveillance, urban security, security or improving schools “It is neither right nor left, it is a priority.”
The first mayor stressed that "in 12 years it is the first budget that will come into force on January 1." The popular one valued the increase of 17% to 223,577,693.20 euros, which allows the increase to be distributed in all municipal areas, emphasizing "the good news" of raising the new incorporations of officials to 100. Once the budget was approved, Albiol made a preview of the investment chapter that will be presented in the coming days that will affect the construction of public housing or a new large sports complex.
