• The first 100% Almeida budgets: the highest since Gallardón and a social item as with Villacís
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Yesterday the curtain officially rose on the 2024 budget. And that's not just anything for a City Council, for a city, that has gone since 2022 without good news of that caliber. After the Governing Board, brought forward to Wednesday due to today's festivity of La Almudena, José Luis Martínez-Almeida appeared together with Engracia Hidalgo, delegate of the Government Area of Economy, Innovation and Finance, for the premiere of record accounts of almost 6,000 million euros, to which a few bureaucratic steps still await. It will not be until the penultimate week of the year (the 20th or 21st) when they will be approved in an extraordinary and urgent plenary session. A few days later, in the week of the 26th, they could be published in the Official Gazette of the City Council (BOAM) and in the Official Gazette of the Community of Madrid (BOCM).

It is the first time that Almeida has had full freedom to draw up his economic plan. It is the 14th that Engracia Hidalgo has cooked with her recipe, after having done it nine times in the Community of Madrid, under the mandates of Esperanza Aguirre, first, and Cristina Cifuentes and Ángel Garrido, before placing herself under the orders of the mayor of Madrid.

The fact is that both of them broke down some of the headings of these municipal numbers that will articulate the city of Madrid during 2024. With the words "balance and caution" as flags. They already contain the first outlines of two of the great promises that gave luster to Almeida's last electoral program. Seven of the 5,939 million budgeted will be destined for the burial of the A-5 that has been entrenched all its life. "We are tired of waiting for the central government," the mayor proclaimed yesterday.

It will be something of a foundation stone that, in any case, would not be laid until the last third of 2024. The Mobility Area will be in charge of a project whose multi-year tender contract will amount to 400 million. Yesterday, Borja Carabante, delegate of the branch, met with the Secretary of State, and left with the commitment of co-financing. In any case, the City Council will go it alone.

Increased security effectiveness

Another of the points under scrutiny will be on the section of the M-30 that passes through Ventas. This covering will have a pinch of 1.9 million, which will be invested at the end of the year, after its tender. This, as well as the burial of the final stretch of La Castellana, will be carried out by the Works Area, which sees its budget reduced by 16 million (614), after having undertaken the auction of the projects last legislature. The remodelling of Santa María de la Cabeza on the flank of Carabanchel, the doubling of the Eduardo Barreiros bridge and the improvement of the Jacinto Benavente, Tirso de Molina and Dalí squares require an investment of 50 million. In terms of equipment, the former Legazpi Fruit and Vegetable Market, where 2,500 workers will be unified, will have 141.5 million.

The Area of Vice Mayor's Office, Spokesperson, Security and Emergencies will exceed 1,000 million (124 more than until now), which will translate into an increase in personnel. There will be 596 new police officers, 305 firefighters and 224 members of the Samur-Civil Protection. These accounts also include the autonomous body Madrid Salud, which will have an amount of 112 million.

As for the distribution by districts, it is Carabanchel and Moncloa-Aravaca that receive the largest increase: four million. The nine in the southeast will add up to 462 million of the 880.60 million that the 21 will share.

In addition, after three years with salaries frozen, the budgets include a 2% increase for all municipal staff.

  • Articles Carlos Guisasola
  • José Luis Martínez-Almeida