Governor: Mayors can’t ask for money to spend on festivals

Gov. Jenniffer González Colón

By THE STAR STAFF

In response to complaints from some mayors about the inventory tax bill, Gov. Jenniffer González Colón said Monday that mayors cannot be, on the one hand, seeking financial aid from the central government and, at the same time, spending money on festivals, salary increases and trips.

“Municipalities have to take concrete actions,” the governor said at a press conference in Aguadilla. “We can’t have … there are municipalities that are in a fiscal situation where the state has had to intervene by giving them aid, and yet, days later, they hold festivals with expenses that aren’t budgeted. And I believe we have to have a balance. It can’t be the state with the people’s funds -- because the funds don’t come from the government, they’re what people pay in taxes -- and then a municipality is helped and months later either the employees’ salaries are raised, or they go on trips, or they hold festivals that don’t match the severity of the fiscal situation” of their municipality.

González Colón noted that she has not yet received the bill that freezes the inventory tax for three years and that, after the deadline, it will be eliminated. It is assumed that some mayors will meet with the legislative leadership to explore an alternative, she said.

“I trust that in the meeting they have, they can reach some agreements,” the governor said. “The government platform specifically mentions freezing the inventory tax for five years, and that in the fifth year, the government must find a way to compensate for how much money the municipalities would lose due to this tax. So, it’s not being eliminated; a way is being sought for the government to identify how we can replace it, which could be $300 million -- the figure that had been previously discussed -- to be able to eliminate it, which was the measure I agreed upon with the federated [New Progressive Party] and associated [Popular Democratic Party (PDP)] mayors [...], I think it was in May of this year. That was the bill we filed.”

“The Legislature included some amendments to that bill, amendments that extend it, from what they tell me, to three years and elimination,” she added. “So, it’s great that they’re going to meet …”

González Colón insisted, however, that she will sign a bill to freeze the inventory tax and dismissed the proposals of the PDP mayors announced Sunday. In doing so she echoed earlier remarks by House Speaker Carlos “Johnny” Méndez Nuñez that the proposals are unrealistic, “because they involve money that has been committed, money that has already been budgeted,” the governor said.