Santa Cruz Rejects €3.6M EU Organic Waste Grant

Santa Cruz City Council has turned down a 3.6 million euro grant from Spain's Ministry for Ecological Transition. This money, from the EU's Next Generation funds, was meant to introduce "brown bins" for organic waste in the city. The council had already received 1.8 million euros of this grant. With these funds, the city's cleaning contractor, Valoriza, bought organic waste bins for all five districts and two electric trucks to collect them.

Carlos Tarife, the Councilor for Public Services, announced this decision yesterday during a council meeting. The socialist group had requested his appearance, and their spokesperson, Patricia Hernández, blamed the council's department for "poor processing" of the application, leading to the loss of the European funding. She stated, "The government team's inaction and lack of care have cost residents 3.6 million euros. Now, they will have to pay for the brown bins through their taxes."

Tarife explained that after the City Council was told it would receive the European funds, they asked the Canary Islands Government's Ministry for Ecological Transition (then led by José Antonio Valbuena) to change their contract with Valoriza. This change would allow Valoriza, as the service provider, to use the grant money to buy the necessary equipment.

He added that the Canary Islands Government approved this. However, the City Council's legal and audit departments were also asked for their opinions on the contract change. After ten months, both departments advised against the plan for the brown bins. They warned it could cause problems with other municipalities. Because of this, the council decided last month to return the grant money, of which 50% had already been received. The city now plans to install the organic waste bins and smart cards (which will offer tax breaks to users) next year using its own funds, estimated at about 2.7 million euros.

Patricia Hernández, however, suggested that the plan to introduce the brown bins was linked to a "direct contract award" with Valoriza. In response, Tarife pointed out that former councilor Valbuena had given the initial approval, but with two internal council reports against it, there were only three options: 1) The mayor could overrule the objection (which is solely the mayor's power); 2) Return the money, which is what they chose to do; or 3) A third option, which he implied was improper, citing a practice by Minister Ángel Víctor Torres, not the PP party, that had been mentioned in UCO reports. Tarife then read a quote attributed to Torres: "I'm going to curse all the saints with the financial manager, and she either solves it for you or I'll throw her in the air."

The council meeting also covered other topics, including the status of public housing. This followed a financial agreement with the Canary Islands Government and the Cabildo (island council) to build 37 apartments in María Jiménez and 226 in Cuevas Blancas. The PSOE, who had asked for the housing councilor Belén Mesa to speak, questioned if this agreement meant Santa Cruz was giving up on increasing its own public housing. They argued that a three-way agreement shouldn't mean sharing out these approved projects (from 2020), plus 88 planned for Avenida de Los Príncipes which have now vanished, with other authorities at the city's expense.

Mesa responded that the City Council has provided land to meet the current demand for public housing. She added that they have secured funding for the María Jiménez and Cuevas Blancas projects and are applying for more aid for new developments, such as the Activa Vivienda program, 4 million euros from EDIL funds, and 101 million euros for housing renovation.

The PSOE also raised concerns about the garages for 44 homes in El Tablero, which haven't been given to residents yet, and for which there are claims that charges will be introduced. Mesa replied that these garages would be given to administrative boards to manage, but she didn't specify how they would be rented out afterwards. Finally, the poor condition of the old fishermen's guild building and the San Andrés breakwater was also discussed. Gladis de León, the councilor for the Anaga district, stated that the responsibility for these areas lies with Costas (the national coastal authority), not the City Council.