Smaller businesses will pay less; bigger ones will pay more, and cortijos will now have to pay IBI for rubbish collection.

Up until now, all business paid a flat rate for rubbish collection, regardless of how big they were, but the Mayor, Gonzalo Fernández Pulido wants the property tax to be more balanced.

For example, up till now all hotels and tourist establishments paid a flat rate of 1,142 euros per annum. Now, those that have fewer than five rooms will only pay 135 euros, giving a massive reduction of just over 1,000 euros per annum. Medium size establishments will pay 811 euros whilst those with more than 50 rooms will pay 1,623 euros per annum.

Business premises will also see a change: those with between 400 and 1,000 sq/m will pay 600 euros less than before. Schools without dinning rooms will pay 120 euros less and academies and other centres will pay just 20 euros rather than 144 euros.

The Mayor says that it is a big change… and few will argue.

These significant reductions, he says, are made to stimulate medium and small local businesses, who are, he says, the motor of the local economy.

As for cortijos – and this is where you can stop holding your breath – they will now be paying 22,40 euros per annum, which is hardly going to torpedo your personal economy. These dwellings on “rustic land” generate rubbish, which they leave in rubbish containers in town or, in a pretty antisocial manner, along the cemetery road.

Those living in town will see around a 10-euros saving on the IBI bill, but don’t worry, the Provincial Council will be charging separately, for “rubbish treatment.”

Finally, the Mayor promised that the IBI for 2014 would not go up, remaining frozen at its present new rate.

(News: Salobrena, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)