Garachico's budget for 2025: more than 7.2 million euros, most of which is for salaries.

Last September, the city council of the town of Garachico approved the budget for 2025. The decision was made at an extraordinary meeting on September 25. The budget has now been published, and there is a period until October 24 to submit objections. The budget was supported by the votes of the ruling group CC and PSOE. The opposition party A'Gara, led by former mayor Ramón Miranda, voted against it. Two more opposition councilors were absent from the meeting.

The total budget for 2025 is over 7.2 million euros. This is 7.5% more than in 2024, which is more than half a million euros. The largest part of the budget, almost half (46.76%), will go to employee salaries, which is over 3 million euros. The government team explained that this is due to the fact that many employees have been made permanent. "We have made civil servants permanent, as required by the rules. This has increased costs by 400,000 euros," they explained.

The Garachico City Council approved the budget almost at the last minute. Representatives of CC and PSOE explained that the Congress of Deputies had not approved advance payments for a long time, and the city was to receive about 300,000 euros. They also noted that staff costs and garbage removal had to be taken into account. "As soon as we received official notification of these payments, we were able to approve the budget. We were informed about them in July, and approved it in September, because it was impossible in August," they said.

Expenditure increased by 15.71% compared to 2024. This is over 3 million euros. CC and PSOE explained that this was due to the permanent employment of employees and changes in garbage removal. Now this is done directly by the local organization, and previously it was done by the Isla Baja consortium. "We have increased funding for garbage removal because there is more waste in Garachico. Therefore, costs have increased by approximately 200,000 euros," they explained at the meeting.

Only 0.43% of the total amount will be spent on real investments from the Garachico City Council budget in 2025. This is almost 31,000 euros for the city council and 95,000 euros for the geriatric center. Together, it is almost 126,000 euros. In 2024, 165,000 euros were allocated for this.

Together with the city council budget, the budget of the autonomous organization of the hospital-residence for the elderly Ntra. Sra. de la Concepción was approved. This organization, which depends on local authorities, has a budget of over 2 million euros. The largest part, 58.19%, will also go to employee salaries.

Financial expenses increased to almost 100,000 euros, which is 24.62% more, due to the increase in interest on debt.