By The Star Staff
Cataño Mayor Julio Alicea Vasallo on Wednesday highlighted a million-dollar budget surplus among an extensive list of achievements as he marked a year and a half as mayor of the San Juan metro area municipality.
In his financial status report, Alicea Vasallo noted that the $3.9 million surplus in municipal coffers was achieved through the implementation of strict management and fiscal responsibility measures. Cataño’s budget for the 2022-2023 fiscal year was $40.9 million, while the municipality’s operating expenses amounted to $37 million, which resulted in the positive balance.
“In a year and a half of hard work, we have achieved a better Cataño,” the mayor said. “There isn’t a proposal or project that I promised that I haven’t fulfilled or that isn’t about to be completed. I am happy, although not completely satisfied because there are always needs to attend to and new plans to be made.”
“Since I began my duties as mayor, transparency in the way things are done has improved 100% due to good control of expenditures, and administrative and fiscal excellence,” Alicea Vasallo added. “This surplus allows us to have reserves to use the money for reimbursable expenses for projects that require federal funds. Very few municipalities have the financial capacity to carry out their works.”
Meanwhile, income from the Municipal Revenue Collections Center (CRIM by its Spanish acronym) property tax showed collections of $14 million for 2022-2023. In the sales and use tax (IVU) line, Cataño reported revenues of $5.3 million. The report further details municipal tax (“patente”) revenues that reached $11.6 million, compared to the 2021-2022 year, when they were $10.3 million. Income from construction taxes totaled $552,639, compared to the previous fiscal year when it was only $46,385.
The city has also granted 46 new provisional patentes to new businesses and earned about $789,000 in revenue from delinquent patentes and CRIM.
“For this year 2023-2024 we will work hard to invest almost $1 million in public and private works and improvements throughout Cataño to attract investment to the municipality,” the mayor said.
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