The Chamber of Olhão reduced nearly 5 million euros of the municipality's debts and reduced the liabilities of municipal companies by around 2,6 million euros, since the current executive took office.
This reduction in liabilities was achieved "with measures on the expenditure and revenue side", namely the cut in expenses with parties and an internal restructuring, which allowed "to save 250 thousand euros per year, just with the reduction of managers", revealed the Mayor of Olhão António Pina.
Despite the application of cuts, there were areas in which investment was maintained, namely “education, social action and sport”, seen as priorities by the socialist executive and which “did not suffer any cuts”. Apart from these “sacred” areas, weight loss occurred in almost all other items.
The savings achieved allowed “almost all short-term debts to be paid off”, as well as to begin to reduce some medium/long term debts.
“The consolidation of Finance has been one of our priorities since we took office. The Chamber of Olhão, like many others, had a situation of great difficulties, due to the reduction in revenue. It was not an extremely indebted municipality, like others, so much so that it only asked for 4 million euros from PAEL, but it had some problems. With the new law, which forced this control, this turned out to be the great difficulty», revealed António Pina, to the Sul Informação.
António Pina: “We have been trying to explain better to people and the concern to be more open. Because some of the lies, ghosts and half-truths that have been created in recent years only happened because we didn't make the effort to explain it better.”
«We started by reducing the party sector, in the support we gave. We also reduced some investments. On the expenditure side, we reduced in personnel, namely in the heads", he explained, adding that in events, 190 euros/year were spent less than before.
Today, and two years after the current executive took office, the debt of the municipality and municipal companies was reduced by 4,9 million euros, according to figures that had already been put forward in a balance of the first two years in office, made by António Pina in November. In short-term debts to suppliers, between October 2013 and the same month of 2015, there was a reduction from 5,28 to 2,9 million euros, that is, around 2,4 million euros were written off.
In medium/long term obligations, more linked to loans and the amount requested under the Plan for Support to Local Authorities (PAEL), the reduction was around 2,5 million euros, more precisely, from 21,6 to the 19,1 million euros. All in all, the municipality of Olhanense now has a total debt of 22 million euros, when, in 2013, it amounted to 26,9 million.
With regard to municipal companies, Fesnima (responsible for organizing events, among others) no longer had any debt in 2013 and continues to do so. The same could not be said of the Municipal Markets of Olhão, which owed 128,1 euros, a debt already paid off. Ambiolhão still continues to be a major weight in the municipality's accounts, even though there has been a substantial reduction. In 2013, this municipal company had a liability of 15,1 million euros, meanwhile reduced to 12,5 million euros.
Despite this adjustment, it was possible to «return around one million euros to the citizens of Olhão, in Municipal Property Tax (IMI)», due to the reduction of this rate «by 20 percent».
As he had already done in the balance session of the two-year mandate, António Pina once again stressed that his executive had introduced changes, in terms of interaction with the opposition and the population. Also because the current mayor, unlike its predecessor Francisco Leal, does not have a majority either in the Chamber or in the Municipal Assembly.
«I tried to adapt to my image the management of the municipality, which will be neither better nor worse than the previous one. There is a new way of governing, in permanent dialogue with other party forces, not least because we don't have a majority. There had to be a readjustment here, a process of learning among all, not only of those in power, but also of the opposition, which was forced to have a more constructive and less oppositional posture», said the mayor.
A task that has not been as difficult as we expected at the beginning, since, «luckily, we have councilors who are all decent people, who are in Olhão and put the municipality's development as their priority».
“We have been trying to explain better to people and the concern to be more open. Because some of the lies, ghosts and half-truths that have been created in recent years only happened because we didn't make an effort to explain them better», he said.
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