Güímar Council Approves €22.5M Budget in 8 Minutes, Opposition Slams Haste

Güímar's town council quickly approved its first budget for next year in just over eight minutes. The budget is nearly 22.5 million euros, which is less than 720,000 euros more than the current one. Most of this extra money will go towards staff salaries. This increase is mainly due to a mandatory 4% pay rise for civil servants, along with new salaries for councilors María del Carmen Jorge (working 50% of the time) and Agonay Paz (working 75% of the time). José Miguel Hernández, the socialist councilor for Economy and Finance, explained this.

The budget passed with 12 votes from the ruling coalition (PP, NC, and two PSOE councilors). The opposition – made up of CC, USP, and three other PSOE councilors – voted against it, claiming they didn't have enough time to review the document. However, the Finance councilor pointed out that they had been given five days to study it.

José Miguel Hernández stressed that the new budget follows "the same rules" as the current extended budget, which was put together by the previous government (CC-PSOE-USP). He added that the town council's Economic and Financial Plan only limits "how much it can grow." When socialist councilor Alicia Lorenzo raised a concern, he admitted that the growth was "tiny." He also clarified that money for waste collection would "increase because of a new contract."

Looking closely at the figures, operating expenses are set to rise from 11.5 million to over 12 million euros. This is due to the higher cost of existing contracts, services, and supplies. This nearly half-a-million-euro increase is alongside another 437,250 euro rise in personnel costs, bringing the total to over 8.8 million euros. The CC party particularly highlighted the cost of the political structure, stating, "The government group costs 80,714 euros more than last year."

Gustavo Pérez, the nationalist spokesperson, explained that "while day-to-day spending and staff costs are going up, the 2026 budget actually cuts real investments by 227,700 euros, dropping from 524,765 euros in the extended budget to 297,065 euros."

Although the local government insisted the process was legal, the opposition criticized the inclusion of both the 2025–2026 Economic-Financial Plan and the 2026 General Budget for approval on the agenda. They called it a "hasty and disorganized process," arguing that the budget was introduced "as an urgent matter, communicated by WhatsApp in the notice for the information committee, without enough time or assurances for the opposition to do its job properly." Gustavo Pérez further explained that "if the government acknowledges that the Economic and Financial Plan is vital and that the budget guides the municipality, then institutional respect, transparency, and ample time for democratic debate are the least that should be provided."

The Economy and Finance councilor maintained that five days was sufficient time to review the document. He also responded that the governing team and civil servants have other duties, referring to USP councilor César Bethencourt's comment that his job prevented him from dedicating more time to his political responsibilities.