Exclusively taking over the Navarrese district of Erripagaña, where four mayors currently govern, would cost Pamplona 3.8 million euros per year. This is the main conclusion of the report produced by the Treasury and Public Procurement sector of Pamplona City Hall. The 12,500 residents of this neighborhood, which also belongs to Burlada, Huarte and Valle de Egüés, have been demanding for years that a single municipal council govern them so that they can have basic services such as a health center or a school public, including what they now lack because none of the four municipalities grants them. A few weeks ago, the Chamber of Accounts, the Court of Auditors of Navarre, indicated that the “most reasonable” solution was for the neighborhood to belong to Pamplona or Burlada, the two largest municipalities.
Today, a report from Pamplona City Hall, whose mayor, Joseba Asiron (EH Bildu) has shown his willingness to take over the entire neighborhood, estimates the annual costs associated with services and benefits as the population increases ( up to 15,000 people) ), while the income would be 3.7 million. The idea of the municipal council is that this document serves to “support the participatory process which should define the future of the district by spring-summer 2025”, reports the council.
The data was calculated based on a projection of the current population, with 10,093 people registered, which will be 15,712 when the urban development planned in the Municipal Sector Plan of Incidence approved in 2004 is completed. Currently, the population finds itself in an administrative situation. fragmentation which has caused unease in the neighborhood, mainly due to the slowness in the development and implementation of community spaces.
Income: tax orders and transfers
According to the theoretical exercise developed in the report, if Pamplona absorbed the management of the entire district, current income (taxes, fees and transfers) would increase to 3,735,382 euros. This calculation is carried out on the basis of periodic tax figures collected in the report published on September 20 by the Chamber of Accounts on the situation of Erripagaña. Comptos does not take into account that the three municipalities in the region apply different tax rates and tax rates like the contribution, which in Pamplona will have a tax rate of 0.25% next year. By adjusting these data, revenues from the collection of taxes would reach 1,305,345 euros.
As for current transfers, those received from the Local Treasury Participation Fund for regional taxes and, more precisely, from the general fund within the Current Transfer Fund would change. Thus, in the event of incorporation of the district, Pamplona would receive, according to data from the Comptos report, 2,430,037 euros, which would bring the total income to 3,735,382 euros. Of course, the work carried out by the Treasury indicates that, as this is a theoretical exercise, some of the variables processed (population, transfers or charges) could vary, which would ultimately lead to a change in total income.
Commitments to increase allocations
In the expenditure chapter, the maxims on which the report is based are essentially two: on the one hand, the obligation that Pamplona would assume to execute the public infrastructure plans that other municipalities have already promoted and , on the other hand, the promotion of provisions that would correspond to the neighborhood to be in Pamplona (the idea of a civivox that could also include other services is under study). Concerning the first part, the amount of these plans is not yet known, but a projection exercise was carried out on an average sports center with an annual operating cost of 353,500 euros; Concerning the second, Mendillorri’s civivox is taken as a theoretical reference, with an annual operating expense of more than 620,000 euros.
Even in terms of provisions, Pamplona would also assume the unique and direct dialogue with the Government of Navarra to stimulate the arrival of the provisions that would correspond to this administration; mainly the Health Center and the school for 0-3 year olds.
Another aspect addressed in the study concerns the increase in contributions that Pamplona City Council should assume due to the increase in population with regard to the contributions that Pamplona pays to support common services. The most important concept in this section would be the contribution to financing the regional urban transport deficit. The Treasury estimates that an increase in the population of around 10,000 people would mean for Pamplona an increase in the contribution to financing the service deficit of 220,769 euros.
Green spaces, lighting, cleaning and other services
The modification of municipal terms implies modifying public service management contracts to assume new needs arising from the increase in territory, infrastructure and population. To calculate these expenses, the municipal report used as a reference the current prices of the public markets that provide services in Pamplona, prices which should be updated depending on when the absorption is carried out.
The maintenance of the green spaces, according to the information provided by the three town halls and the current state of conservation, would cost approximately 273,346.95 euros, including personnel, machines, equipment and maintenance of this amount. The street cleaning would involve approximately 150,000 square meters, for an amount of 267,785 euros and would include the same concepts (staff, machines, etc.). Due to its size, public lighting would cost 396,637 euros, including maintenance, consumption and migration to. LED technology. Concerning the cleaning of public roads, the report estimates the provision of the service at around 270,000 euros per year.
The Social Services section (personnel, neighborhood unit and operating expenses) would represent 453,325.96 euros, to which would be added other expenses of a social nature linked to the increase in the population, such as emergency aid, soup kitchen or soup kitchen purses which. are not included in the study because they are difficult to quantify with the available data.
For the Municipal Police and taking into account the Foral Law 23/2018 and the characteristics of the service provided in Pamplona, it is estimated that a maximum of 20 additional officers would be required to serve a population of 15,000 people, with an associated cost of 1 204,620 euros. This amount includes salary costs, clothing, equipment and the rental of additional vehicles. Finally, the report also includes an estimate of the expenditure of the community action service, with an investment in personnel of 22,395.54 euros and an expenditure of 53,005.54 euros.
