The Provincial Delegation of Castellón stands up to the new waste rate imposed by the Government and increases the budget by 127% to assume the administrative management of this tax in 59 municipalities.
The president of the Provincial Council, Marta Barrachina, explained that for next year the provincial institution will allocate 3.2 million euros for the tender of the three contracts that will cover 59 municipalities, compared to the 40 that there was up to the time and that amounted to 1.4 million.
And the fact is that, until now, the Provincial Council had a management team composed of three contracts aimed at managing waste from 40 municipalities. These three contracts will bring together municipalities: Alto Mijares (6 municipalities), Alto Palacia (28 municipalities) and Ports – Alt Maestrat (25 municipalities). From now on, 59 municipalities will be managed by the provincial institution, an increase of 47.5%. Which represents an investment of 3,225,000 euros (127% more)
As President Marta Barrachina emphasized, “we will help them manage their waste to strengthen municipalities and improve their services.”
And the fact is that in addition to the increase announced for the contract which will be the subject of a call for tenders before the year, the Provincial Council extends the management mission so that the municipalities of less than 20,000 inhabitants. With this new measure, there are now 17 municipalities which have formalized their request and in the future they will join the current 59 municipalities, for a total of 76. The provincial leader added that to the management mission of the Foral Deputation of Castellón could join up to 127 municipalities in the province. “This expansion allows us to strengthen our support network and respond more effectively to the challenges facing these municipalities.”
During her appearance, Marta Barrachina expressed her rejection of “this rate which will affect the 135 municipalities and more than 600,000 inhabitants of the province”.
“To understand the scale of the problem, it is essential to start at the beginning.” In this regard, following a decision by the central government, all municipalities will be obliged to charge a waste tax to their neighbors. “A measure recommended by the European Union but presented as obligatory by the Spanish Government and was imposed without the municipalities having received the necessary tools to manage it correctly”, lamented the president of the Provincial Council, who added that “this generates great difficulties for many of them. , in particular for small municipalities, given that municipal councils do not have sufficient economic, technical or legal capacities to be able to deal with this new imposition which is clearly detrimental to them.
“On the part of the Provincial Council, we understand the burden that this obligation represents for our municipalities and our priority is to be alongside the town halls because we understand that they cannot face this new requirement alone without the necessary resources .”
Through the measures implemented, the provincial institution offers municipalities the possibility of delegating the management of the new waste rate to the Provincial Council, which will be directly in charge of collection. “Our collection service will take care of the entire process and transfer the corresponding funds to each municipality, thus freeing them from the administrative burden that this task entails,” explained Marta Barrachina, who emphasized that “this measure is particularly important for small municipalities, which generally lack the personnel and resources necessary to be able to manage these procedures. Added to all this is the problem of creating an ordinance for a rate “that they don’t really know how to apply.”
In conclusion, Marta Barrachina declared that “from the Provincial Council, we will not sit idly by and we will work hand in hand with you, town halls, associations, to make this process that we all have to go through as easy as possible.”
In addition to all this, the Provincial Government presented a motion at the plenary session next Tuesday, October 22, to show its rejection that the total cost of the new garbage tariff imposed by the Government has an impact on citizens and to demand a moratorium. . Thus, through the motion, the provincial institution will urge the Spanish Government to approve a moratorium on the application of the provisions of article 11.3 of Law 7/2022 of April 8 on waste and contaminated soil until that clear criteria be established which serve. as a guide for all municipalities to impose the rate. This will also require the central government to rethink or study more flexible transition methods and also provide aid and financial instruments to municipalities, so that the citizen does not bear the entire tax.
Likewise, the Provincial Delegation of Castellón will show its refusal to pass on 100% of the cost of waste collection among citizens, and will urge the Spanish government to take into account the requests and positions of all local administrations that also oppose it.
