Socialist deputy Miguel Freitas met with the direction of ANAFRE's Algarve Delegation, with whom he analyzed the impact of the State Budget on the region's parishes, but also the transitional regime in aggregate parishes and the new local finance law.
"The Government has enticed the aggregation of parishes with a 15% increase in the Parish Financing Fund, but it is the non-aggregated parishes that will pay, which is an unacceptable blow for all municipalities", stresses the Algarve deputy of the PS.
The State Budget imposes a general cut of 1,4% in the Parish Financing Fund in relation to 2013, which, according to ANAFRE, goes against everything that the Government has repeatedly stated during the process of reform of the local administration and the new law. which, moreover, was included in the Agreement signed with the Government on July 24 of this year.
«The parishes run the risk of being doubly penalized, not only for the reduction of funding through the FFF, but also for being able to have fewer transfers from the municipalities, not knowing if the new direct powers they will receive already have the funds included in this State Budget », says Miguel Freitas.
The new legislation (Law No. 75/2013, of 12 September) attributes more competences to parishes, which must be accompanied by the corresponding funds for their implementation, but it is clear how this transfer of competences will be carried out and with which human resources , since the State Budget provides for the application of the 2% cut in personnel, identical to the entire civil service.
Parishes generally have less than 10 workers, to whom the Government wants to transfer more skills and, at the same time, proposes to cut staff, which, according to Joaquim Teixeira, Regional Coordinator of ANAFRE, “does not allow for having the conditions to provide a good service to the populations, which causes great discouragement in the parishes».
"With the hard blows of this Budget, with the difficulties inherent in aggregation and with the mandatory addition of skills, there is a huge adjustment effort to be asked of the parishes, without the means to do it, and who will feel it are the people", concludes the socialist parliamentarian.
Miguel Freitas, who was accompanied by the president of the Algarve Federation of the Socialist Party, António Eusébio, thus ended a series of meetings with ANAFRE on the State Budget, after having been received by the President of CCDR Algarve, the new Board of the Association of Algarve Municipalities and the Regional Delegate of the APA/ex-ARH.
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