San Bartolomé adjusts aid for neighborhood festivals and leaves them at around 180,000 euros

“In the last two years the City Council has been paying for everything, but now the legislation no longer allows it and we have implemented a new system through subsidies,” the mayor of Festejos explained this Tuesday. Yilenia Vega.

Both the new distribution mechanism and the cut in aid, which was initially quantified at 110,000 euros, angered a good part of the groups involved in the organization of the neighborhood festivals, which They submitted a document on March 4 in which they literally warned the council to stand up and hand them over.

The City Council only organizes and fully finances the municipal festivals, which in San Bartolomé are those of Tunte, San Fernando and El Tablero. The rest, up to 17, depend on the neighbors themselves and their groups.

The groups saw the amount as insufficient

In essence, they complained that they had not been consulted, they described the amount as “very poor, insufficient and unrealistic”, when not a “mockery”, and they reproached them that this formula “undervalues ​​the work and the neighborhood and cultural legacy that has been carried out for years” and that it once again established “differences” between residents based on the neighborhood “and the political profitability translated into pomp and votes.

Those associations demanded an urgent meeting with the first deputy mayor, Alejandro Marichal, and with Vega, which finally occurred and to which the local government presented itself with the announcement of an increase in the budget for aid, which would now amount to 180,000. From there, the councilor explains, Vega has been holding individual meetings with each group, an agenda of meetings that, according to her, has been satisfactory and has motivated “the majority have agreed.”

The bases will be published shortly

Vega points out that the new distribution of aid will be done on a competitive basis. They will soon publish the rules and a deadline will be opened for the groups to present a project about their festivals. Among the criteria that will be weighed is the population, so, according to the mayor, they have already been told more or less the amount they will be able to receive.

Just this Tuesday he planned to meet with the Amurga-Juan Grande association, whose president, Oscar Lopez He didn’t seem exactly satisfied. Because? Because he opposes a formula that, in his opinion, seeks to disguise what it really is: “a delivery of nominative subsidies, that is, by hand”, which is based on criteria that only contribute to cementing that “in San Bartolomé there are 1st, 2nd and 3rd class citizens.

Furthermore, it makes it clear that the 20,000 euros that have been half announced do not allow them to cover the holidays, which is why they have not yet decided if they will be able to afford them this year. Calculate that at least They would need 35,000 or 40,000.

Celebrations and groups agree that the ordinance must be changed

This distribution of subsidies will be made in accordance with the provisions of a 2006 ordinance that has become obsolete and that both Celebrations and the groups see it necessary to modify. This is one of the commitments that, according to Vega, he has made to the associations and is also one of the future solutions that López, from Amurga-Juan Grande, proposes.

Why is it obsolete? Because the only expenses that can be subsidized are those of fireworks, musical performances, stage decoration or civil liability insurance, among others, when the truth is that, depending on the groups, There are many other expenses that are inevitable and large. such as motors or electrical panels for lighting, on which a lot of money is spent and for which they would not have aid.