Did the Almuñécar Town Hall bite off more than it could chew when it decided to levy 500 fines (according to the PSOE opposition party) in two days? Rumour had it that they had prepared another 500 but had decided to axe the second batch after encountering a very unimpressed business sector.
But let’s look at the facts. On the 2nd and 3rd of August the Environmental Inspector of the Town Hall issued a swarm of fines upon restaurants, bars and shops. Curiously, some businesses received three fines on the 2nd and another couple the following day.
How can you be fined three times in one day? Well, the fines bear such notations as: not putting the rubbish out at the right time, not putting the rubbish bags in the containers, not cleaning the area where rubbish placed for collecting and even, not maintaining sufficient hygiene standards (having serviettes on the floor of the bar, as in one case).
Take into account that each one of these infractions is 300 euros, meaning that some businesses have reportedly had to find 3,000 euros – not an easy task after a lean summer and a leaner winter in the offing.
There was a case where a business received five fines during a weekend when they hadn’t even been open. This business is in a public square, and somebody must have left a rubbish bag near their premises. Surely the cleaning of the square is a municipal responsibility?
What about another business that had the misfortune of having a botellón take place next to their terrace – the revellers even lit small bonefires in the area, yet the next morning it was reportedly the business that was fined for the mess created by the street-party goers?
The wife of a local shopkeeper related that they were fined because inspectors deemed the area in front of their shop was dirty… at two in the morning! Is it their fault if people litter the area during a typical, busy August night?
Yet, very few people are willing to speak out, fearing retribution from the Town Hall in the form of inspections and licence reviews. Is that a baseless fear? They don’t appear to think so.
The problem is that there is no money coming into the Town Hall from the once-lucrative building licence fees, etc. and money has to be found elsewhere. One obvious way is increased Blue Zone coverage and the other is creating revenue by levelling fines.
All town halls receive a certain amount through fine collection, but this is not normally regarded as major revenue, just a by-product of traffic policing and environmental control.
Yet, the 2010 budget was a clear indication that fining was going to become a very important source of income. You see, the revenue section for the 2009 Budget foresaw an annual income of 380,000 euros, yet the 2010 Budget foresees over 600,000 euros. Is our population set to double, hence the doubling of the sum for fines? Or is it that the Almuñécar Town Hall intends to distort a normal monetary by-product of traffic and environmental fines into a questionably legal practice of fiscal chastisement of its citizens?
After having suffered a bleak first six months of 2009, Almuñécar businesses were praying for healthy summer trading; one that for most did not materialise. Now faced with a bleak autumn and winter, things looked bad enough without this latest and arguably unjust blow.