During the extraordinary council meeting of Manilva Town Hall, held this morning, item ten on the agenda, the “determination of the working regime of the Town Hall’s councillors”, was presented for approval. Mayor José Manuel Fernández Fernández (PP) explained that they had agreed “not to make any changes to what the previous governing team had and, in this way, full-time dedication is established for the mayor and part-time for the rest of the council’s councillors, as well as the remuneration they will receive as elected officials”. After a brief misunderstanding in which it seemed that the item was not even going to be put to a vote, the floor was given to those who wished to speak.
Antonio Marín, spokesperson for the VOX municipal group at Manilva Town Hall, said during his turn to speak that “we consider the amount allocated to the municipal groups excessive, as it rises from 250 euros per group and 50 euros per councillor to 500 euros per group and 100 euros per councillor”, which would double municipal political spending in this area. He explained that, after asking the Secretary for the Municipal Organic Regulations (ROM), “it states that, indeed, the amount is 250 euros plus 50 euros”. However, he continued, “if at any point any amendment has been made to the aforementioned regulations, we have no record of it, we do not have that documentation”. He went on: “we consider it an excessive amount for the municipal groups and, moreover, staying true to our election manifesto, we believe it is excessive spending and needs to be reduced”.
https://youtu.be/Mr-YGRWoOVI
Council meeting broadcast by RTV Manilva
Compromiso Manilva
The representative of Compromiso Manilva merely said that “we agree with what is being proposed but, he indicated, an intervention report is missing”.
Marcos Ruiz Rodríguez, who was councillor for the economy and finance department for Compromiso Manilva in previous terms, explained that the amounts brought to today’s council meeting correspond to what was approved in the ROM in 2003 and that there had subsequently been an agreement to apply some kind of reduction. According to Antonio Marín, “if that existed, it should have been done, as established, as an amendment to the ROM and not as any other kind of parallel agreement”. The only amendments that emerge from the ROM are two, Marín pointed out, from 2013 and 2014, “in which the remuneration amounts for the Municipal Groups are the aforementioned 250 plus 50 euros”.
Vote after a recess
With the situation as it stood, José Manuel Fernández Fernández called a recess during the council meeting to hold a meeting of spokespersons and agree how to proceed. Following that meeting, and in accordance with the agreement reached between the spokespersons, the mayor put the agenda item to a vote with amendments to the remuneration, stating: “250 and 50 euros will apply, as Mr Marín has rightly proposed”.
The reduction of the proposed amounts was thus approved by majority, with votes against from the Compromiso Manilva councillors and abstention from the PSOE councillors.
To conclude, Antonio Marín stressed that “VOX has come to the institutions precisely to bring common sense”. Without a doubt, he continued, “we must be true to our commitment to reduce superfluous political spending, and this was just that”. He added: “it is time for the residents of Manilva to start feeling reassured because VOX will work tirelessly for the benefit of the public”.
