Every man, woman and child resident of Almuñécar has had to pay nearly nine euros because of the Town Hall’s incompetence. Not much, really, but remember that if you divide the 224,000 euros that the Town Hall has been fined between only the tax payers, rather than amongst the entire population, the figure is of course higher.

But it is not a question of how much we are expected to pay for the Town Hall’s illegal activities, but that we should have to contribute at all. Let he who errs pay the price; i.e., if the Mayor or any other member of the Town Hall commits an act that is penalised with a hefty fine, let him pay it from his own pocket. Utopia, of course…

In short, Almuñécar was fined 224,000 euros for irregularly employing staff at the Peña Escrita facilities. The Town Hall appealed against the decision – costing even more money – and lost.

A work inspector went over the mountain park with a fine-toothed comb and discovered that the workers there were listed as ‘agricultural workers,’ who pay a smaller social security payment, rather than the normal amount. The Ayuntamiento tried to pass off the lion keeper as a labourer for digging holes.

This is the second time in the same month that the Town Hall has come a cropper over wrongful employment: it has also been ordered to reinstate a worker after sacking him. They had given him four consecutive and limited contracts instead of giving him a permanent post. They are hardly likely to, so they must pay him compensation.