The Municipal Executive of Portimão approved today, at a Chamber meeting, to accept the transfer of powers to local authorities, within the scope defined in Law No. 50/2018, of 16 August, namely all those provided for in the various sectorial diplomas that have already are published in the Diário da República.
According to President Isilda Gomes, these new competences, which will soon be in charge of the municipality of Portimão, and which were the subject of prior analysis by the various municipal services, «mark a new phase of municipal management, closer and more adequate to the needs of citizens and of the management of the municipal territory”.
In this sense, the Portimão autarchy accepted the transfer of competences to the municipal bodies in the domain of the management of maritime, river and lake beaches integrated in the public water domain of the State; in the field of authorization to operate related modalities of games of chance and other forms of gambling, namely raffles, tombolas, raffles, advertising contests, knowledge contests and pastimes; in the field of communication routes; in the field of justice; in the field of support for the permanent intervention teams of voluntary fire brigade associations and for the bodies of intermunicipal entities in the field of the network of volunteer fire brigades and support programs for voluntary fire brigades; in the domains of the structures of assistance to the citizen; in the field of housing; in the field of public property management and in the field of public parking.
In a press release, the Portimão Chamber says that «the diplomas in question, which correspond to the domains mentioned, were agreed within the scope of a demanding negotiation process between the National Association of Portuguese Municipalities and the Government, guaranteeing in this way rigor, predictability and accountability in this decentralization process”.
The transfer of competences from the Central Administration to the local authorities is a gradual process, which will become effective for all municipalities by the year 2021, and which also involves the transfer to the municipalities of the funds necessary for their proper execution in the various domains.
In the Algarve, the Chamber of Olhão has also announced that intends to assume all competences in 2019 that the Government decided to decentralize.
In the opposite direction, and how the Sul Informação reported firsthand last week, the Câmara de Lagoa decided not to accept the transfer of competences intended by the Government. Despite being elected by the Socialist Party, the mayor of Lagos Francisco Martins said that, without knowing the "financial envelope" that will support this decentralization, he cannot accept the transfer of competences.
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