One of the political parties at Salobreña Town Hall is against the rubbish tax to be levied on cortijo owners and suggests a condition.

Councillor Pedro Ruiz, who is the Spokesman for Más Costa Tropical (and is also the owner of Chiringuito Bahía) says that cortijo owners shouldn’t be expected to pay rubbish collection tax if there is no rubbish hopper within a certain distance from their property.

Councillor Ruíz backed his suggestion with the case of a Motril resident who took this issue before the Regional Ombudsman with a favourable response.

According to Más Salobreña, this response points out that if collection points are not situated within 300 metres of properties that have been told to pay rubbish-collection tax, then the service offered is not being carried out effectively. In other words, they are paying for a service that they are not receiving.

Más Salobreña even cited a court sentence handed down by the Supreme Court of Castilla-La Mancha in 1997 which states that the mere fact that a municipal refuse-collection service exists is not enough in itself if the taxpayer does not receive its benefit.

For the above reasons, Más Salobreña opposes rubbish-collection tax being levied on cortijos which do not have a rubbish hopper within 300 metres of the property. It also recognises that the Town Hall is going through difficult economic ties and that finding a new source of  revenue is imperative but that Más Salobreña is not willing to let residents be taxed for a service which they do not receive.

Editorial comment: people who live isolated cortijos have to travel a few kilometres with their refuse to find a rubbish hopper, therefore, they are, in effect benefitting from the municipal service even though it is not collected from outside there front door.

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