The political opposition combined forces last night to defeat a motion put forward by the governing Socialist Party (PSOE) to refinance current bank loans and borrow a further 650,000 euros.
While the Mayor of Calasparra, Jesus Navarro, told the full meeting of the local authority that the loan was “essential for Calasparra” as it was needed to pay small local businesses and suppliers the coordinator of the United Left (IU) said the governing party were asking for “a leap of faith we are not prepared to make.”
Both the PP, Partido Popular, and the IU claim they have in sufficient information about the Town Hall’s general accounts to support increasing the current three million euro debt and agree that this is not the moment to incur further debt.
However, the PSOE accuse the opposition parties of playing party politics and working against the interests of the town. The Mayor told Calasparra Radio that all parties had access to the same information and that the delay in the production of the General Accounts was due to the treasurer suffering a “grave illness.”
He says the income of the Town Hall has been severely reduced with regional government contributions falling by 50%, central government contributions by 30% and the income from the economic activity of the town by a further 50%. He accuses the opposition parties of “being irresponsible.”
“We need this loan to pay some 2, 3 or 5000 euros to small businesses and suppliers in Calasparra. This is a significant amount of money for small businesses and we want to pay them now in the interests of the economic activity of the town.” He went on to say all the businesses would get paid but some may now have to wait until next year.
Ricardo Garcia, Coordinator of the IU, says his party would not assume any responsibility for not paying small local businesses. “This is entirely the responsibility of the current administration and the manner in which they have managed the financial affairs of the administration over the past four years,” he said.
The IU claim they have insufficient information about the “real state” of the Town Hall’s finances and were mot prepared to make “a leap of faith” and support the adminstyration getting into further debt.
The PP spokesperson says now was the time for the Town Hall to manage their costs and cut expenses not to take out further debts. “This is not the type of inheritance Calasparra needs,” he said.
