Better late than never

Municipalities are supposed to send accounts to the Ministerio de Economía each year. The documents for 2010 should have been sent by the 31st March but of course towns were preparing for elections at that time. Since over 5,000 councils had not sent in their returns by the due date, an extension was granted until the 31st July. The government said that any town sending a return after that date would have their payments frozen.

Apparently Orihuela council sent their return in on the first day of August leaving only those from  Bigastro and Benejúzar still outstanding.

According to Aurelio Murcia, the return for Bigastro  has now been sent by certified mail. The reasons that he gives for this lateness are twofold:
1. The PSOE were in power when the documentation should have been sent.
2. For the first weeks of August, the town was busy with the Fiesta for San Joaquín

Aurelio Murcia says that he is not unduly concerned about the consequences of sending in the return late because, as he points out, Bigastro owes Seguridad Social 960,000 Euros against the 760,000 Euros that they would claim from Hacienda. The spokesperson goes on to say that the new council are working to bring the town back to a normal financial state and adds that ‘the kids’, as he calls the socialist team led by the young Raúl Valerio, have not even  left them with a Euro to achieve this.

Actually, it is interesting to note that the last budget statement  to be posted on the town's web site dates back to 2008.I am sure that Aurelio will put this right when he has the opportunity.