Monday, October 01, 2007

Don't try phoning them

Telefónica will suspend the telephone lines to the City council of Bigastro next Thursday if the local administration does not pay the 28,300 euros owed to the company. The unpaid bills go back almost a year to the 19th of October 2006 .

The amount of debt has of course escalated because the bills were not paid during the voluntary period. Telefónica point out that letters sent to the mayor of Bigastro, Jose Joaquin Moya seeking clarification have been unanswered. Thus the company announces that that suspension " will materialize " with the disconnection next Thursday 4th of October. There are three lines affected of which one gives access to the direct telephone of the Local Police and to seven extensions.

This one is not the only economic problem that the City council have faced. The Sindicatura de Cuentas reported 30 irregularities in the economic area of the Consistorio in 2005. At that time there was a debt to the Social Security of a million euros in a municipality of 6,500 people.

According to Aurelio Murcia, spokesperson for the PP party, the City council hasn't paid these debts " not because it does not want but because it cannot ". He also claims that monies are owed by the Council to other suppliers.

Inmaculada Martínez, spokesperson for the PSOE ,admitted yesterday on the radio station Ondacero that the debt existed and said that the Council were in negotiations with Telefónica to avoid the suspension of services.

In the recent election campaign the PP party pointed out that only by selling off land which belonged to the Municipality have the PSOE party managed to balance the budget for Bigastro. They also claimed that Bigastrense pay the highest rates of council taxes that are allowed.

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