The municipality of José Luis Martínez-Almeida approved on Thursday the municipal budget for the year 2025, “realistic” and “prudent” accounts, as announced by the councilor, accompanied by the deputy mayor, during a press conference. and the head of economy and finance, Engracia Hidalgo. As announced, the budget will allow the town hall to have “more than 6 billion euros”, including 6.277 million euros for next year, or 5.7% more than the previous year.
In total, last year’s budget – the first with an absolute majority of the PP –, once the public sector is included, amounted to 7.126 million euros. They now value it at a total of 7.558 million. Almeida himself boasted of having an additional 895 million to invest in all areas, “the highest figure since 2019”, and stressed that the budgets “respect the budgetary rules”.
The position which increases the most is that of Urban Planning, Mobility and Environment, which will have 9.2% more than in 2024 since it will have to carry out major works such as burying the A -5, the last section of the Paseo. of the Castellana, or the coverage of the M-30 at the height of Ventas. On the other hand, the area which has the lowest rate is that of housing despite the announcements promoting new projects that the three leaders of the PP highlighted during their appearance.
Concretely, this year’s budget for the Municipal Housing and Land Enterprise (EMVS) is being reduced by 40%: from 123.2 million in 2024 to 77.1 for 2025. “This means 50 million less in the only body of the City Hall which carries out housing policy in the city of Madrid, as the spokesperson for Más Madrid, Rita Maestre, quickly deplored in her X profile: “For the purchase of housing, the City Hall of Madrid only allocates 4.3 million, 2 million euros. less than in 2024. They leave the way open for speculators to continue buying housing and reduce the capacity of the administration to offer housing,” denounced Maestre, who continued with a long thread of data.
However, both Almeida and Hidalgo insisted that housing is one of the priorities of their government team and highlighted the “consolidation” of the Municipal Housing Company as the “main” developer of social housing in Spain. According to the councilor, the work is taking place on three fronts: “Construction, rehabilitation and urban regeneration”. The municipality’s intention is to develop the “ReViVa Program” or “We buy your house” to reach a portfolio of 10,000 housing units by the end of 2025, which will be used for “affordable rentals”. Urban developments in the southeast of the capital, or Madrid Nuevo Norte, will also be undertaken with Operation Chamartín.
It is also planned to complete work on eleven housing developments, totaling 865 new housing units. Among them, those projected in Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles 3; Cañaveral 7, Cañaveral 8, Cañaveral 9, Cañaveral 10, Cañaveral 11, Cañaveral 12, Cañaveral 13; Los Olivos 3, Los Olivos 4 and Vallecas 62. “EMVS Madrid will also continue calls for tenders for works and projects for more than twenty housing developments (3,100 housing units), indicates the City Hall. The Housing sector also wants to promote the plans already announced for the rehabilitation of properties such as the Transforma Madrid strategy, the Adapta plan, the rehabilitation plan and the Transform Your Neighborhood plan. Last year, they committed to rehabilitating 22,000 homes over the course of this year.
The regeneration of various neighborhoods is also planned, within the framework of the Strategic Neighborhood Regeneration Plan (PERBaM), including six works in the neighborhoods of Villaverde, Villa de Vallecas, Moratalaz, Carabanchel, Latina and Hortaleza, and “twelve will be developed” new projects in vulnerable neighborhoods.
Regarding social spending for 2024, they have been set at 1,130 million euros, only 3 million less than in 2023. Almeida’s team boasts that this year will be “the most invested in the last 16 years “. Last year, the municipality highlighted that these social expenditures increased by 79 million to reach 1,133 million euros, or “7.5% more than in 2022”. They now prefer to emphasize that “social spending per capita will be 326 euros, or 30% more than in 2019”.
Taxes fall despite the garbage tariff “hack”
In his speech, the mayor assured that despite the “hacking” of the government of Pedro Sánchez “with the garbage tariff”, this year the City Hall also continues to lower taxes and fees, such as the IBI tariff, which, according to Hidalgo, save Madrid taxpayers 31 million euros. In 2024, the reduction was 40.3 million euros in taxes and reimbursement of capital gains tax. Despite everything, the head of the Treasury ruled that in Madrid it will be able to “finance its current expenses with revenues, which shows the solvent situation of Madrid City Hall”.
The councilor did not spare positive qualifiers for his accounts, since he believes that the budgets are “ambitious” and that they “will generate greater growth for the city” and will promote “a better quality of life” for its inhabitants because they maintain “social cohesion”. ” ”
Regarding the debt, Almeida minimized the data, because “it remains less than 2 billion euros” and recalled that the City Hall “does not assume any volume of debt for what constitutes non-financial expenses”. “There will be an increase of 40 million in debt included in next year’s budget for the purchase of the stake in Calle 30, which will be practically recovered during the first year,” explained the mayor.
The budgets recently approved by the municipal government now enter a period of arguments and amendments before being presented at the last municipal plenary session of December to be able to enter into force at the beginning of January 2025. Almeida s is committed to summoning the municipal groups to “talk” and “get closer to them”, with the guarantee that they will take into account “the amendments that improve the project: “We are neither sectarian nor closed to the “improved budgets,” he said.
