The City Council minimizes the new ‘tax rate’ of the central government with an ordinance that provides for an annual increase of only 5 euros per bill.

The Consistory also proposes a 3 percent reduction on the full amount of the fee for taxpayers who deposit waste in an authorized clean point, at least three times a year, for which there are no containers on the public road.

The Estepona City Council has approved today in an extraordinary plenary session the modification of the municipal ordinance that regulates the service of collection and treatment of solid urban waste. In this way, the garbage rate is adapted to Law 7/2022 of the central government that requires that taxpayers are those who assume full payment for the collection, deposit and subsequent incineration of waste in treatment plants.

In order that the new ‘tasazo’ of the central government garbage has the least impact on citizens, while compliance with it is given, the Consistory has established a series of tranches that will allow the rise will average less than 5 euros per year for 70 percent of the receipts of households in Estepona.

In that sense, the deputy mayor of the area of Finance and Human Resources, Ana Vilaseca, has indicated that the government team disagrees with the ‘tasazo’ imposed by the central government that should come into force in April 2025. “We have the responsibility to enforce it because we are a responsible and serious administration, but we have established several tranches so that the impact on taxpayers is minimal,” has continued explaining the councilor.

In that sense, she has recalled that the City Council of Estepona is waiting for the central government to meet the request of the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP) and meet to find an alternative to this rise to be implemented by the municipalities. “The FEMP has requested the withdrawal of this measure because we are forced to establish a rate whose application we do not share, also questioning the constitutional principle of local autonomy,” Vilaseca stressed.

In order to ensure that this increase imposed by the Government has the least possible impact on residents, the City Council also contemplates in the amendment of the municipal ordinance a 3% reduction on the full amount of the fee for those taxpayers who deposit in an authorized clean point, a minimum of three times a year, admissible waste for which there are no containers on the public highway.

In order for this reduction to be applied, the interested party must apply annually during the first quarter of the tax period and present the documentation reporting the deposits made throughout the previous year.

In addition, the application of another series of bonuses for residents who are in vulnerable situations, long-term unemployed or retirees is contemplated.

Finally, the government team has stated that, in the event that the central government reverses the application of this ‘tasazo’, the City Council of Estepona would leave without legal effect the ordinance that has been approved today in plenary session.