Last year, the City Hall of Granada, like many municipal administrations, received a loan from the central government so that they could pay off their outstanding debts to local merchants and traders up until the 31st of December 2011; a total of 107.8m euros.

Thus were cleared all outstanding debts… but not for long: Granada managed to knock up another 61m euros of unpaid bills during the 2012. In fact, we could add another two million, which is owed to the Agencia Municipal Tributaria; i.e., what it owes to the State.

The massive loan received to clear the debts was under the condition that from then on, a municipal administration had to settle all outstanding debts within 40 days. In the case of Granada 15.1m of those 61m euros are still within the 40 days permissible, but the rest isn’t; in other words 46,3m euros corresponding to 3,578 outstanding bills have already crossed the 40-day line.

The 40-day deadline is important because after than the administration has to pay interest on what it owes – welcome to the world of mere mortals, Mr Mayor!

(News: Granada, Andalucia)