Arecibo receives $9.5 million surplus CAE from CRIM

Arecibo Mayor Carlos Ramírez Irizarry

By The Star Staff

Arecibo Mayor Carlos “Tito” Ramírez Irizarry announced this week that the municipality received an official notification from the Puerto Rico Fiscal Agency and Financial Advisory Authority (AAFAF by its initials in Spanish) informing him that Arecibo has already received $9,457,742 corresponding to the excess of the Additional Income Contribution (CAE) from the Municipal Revenue Collections Center (CRIM).

“So that the public knows, we received this income because all our accounts with state agencies are up to date,” the mayor said. “This is a fundamental condition for receiving these funds. We have no debts with agencies such as the Retirement Agency, the Social Security Administration (ASES), the Department of Labor, or others. Once again, we reiterate with evidence that we have fulfilled our commitment to providing the people of Arecibo with sound public administration.”

In the previous fiscal year, Arecibo closed with a surplus of $8 million.

In July 2024, the municipality received $5.2 million in the CAE from CRIM.

“From having a depressed municipality, ridden with debt and difficulties that we found upon our arrival in January 2021, in addition to the $8 million surplus, we begin this fiscal year with $15 million in [the] ordinary fund,” Ramírez Irizarry said.

The mayor noted that upon his taking office, it was discovered that municipal public servants had not been paid their 2016 Christmas bonuses, nor the so-called “enfermito” (sick pay), which are unused sick days. In addition, municipal workers’ Christmas bonuses were reduced by half in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. Service departments were without vehicles, and garbage collection services were stopped and on the verge of being lost due to non-payment to the companies that offered those services. The companies even tried to charge citizens for garbage collection, Ramírez Irizarry recalled.

“That whole tragedy is a thing of the past,” he said. “Today, Arecibo shines, and I thank God first and foremost for his help, my team, and all the municipal public servants of our city.”