Mayor Marco Aurelio Pérez announces that an official public expression of gratitude will be formalized when everything is over, "because there is still much to be done and many problems to solve."
With the boisterous murmur of water running freely through the Tirajana Ravine, still clearly audible from the Plaza de Santiago de Tunte and even from the plenary hall of the Town Hall, Mayor Marco Aurelio Pérez Sánchez closed the ordinary plenary session of this month of March on Thursday by publicly thanking all the staff of the various public services and security forces who have been working to mitigate the effects of Storm Therese in the municipality.
The mayor indicated that this institutional recognition, also endorsed by the spokespeople for the PSOE and NC municipal groups, will be formalized in an official ceremony once the crisis caused by the storm has completely subsided. At this ceremony, he said, gratitude will be expressed for the work carried out during these past days by the Civil Guard, the National Police, the Canary Islands Police, the Local Police, the Red Cross, the emergency response teams, the workers of the Island Water Council and the Cabildo's Roads Department, the employees of all the city's contractors (Parks and Gardens, Social Services, Street Cleaning), the staff of the Municipal Services, Roads and Works, Social Services, Cleaning, and Parks and Gardens departments, as well as the administration employees who assisted with decrees and other specific actions, and the City Hall's technical team who have also been on the front lines.
“I believe we acted as best we could, given the resources we had, and thanks to the proper functioning of the Municipal Emergency Plan (PEMU) coordination committee. This committee was established preventively before the storm began, and it also allowed us, in many cases, to have machinery ready at the most critical points and where the operations would be most complex, and even to set up the temporary shelter well in advance. The people in this administration and in other administrations have responded, continue to respond, and will continue to do so in the coming days because there is still much work to be done,” stated Marco Aurelio Pérez. The mayor also expressed his gratitude for the public's cooperation. “All of this has been possible thanks to the good behavior and citizen collaboration of many residents of the municipality, and of the workers of many companies in the municipality who have facilitated the work during these days, and especially the residents of the basins of the ravines of Arguineguín, Ayagaures and Fataga, who have experienced the problems directly, and also the residents of the area of Cercados de Araña, Ayacata, La Culata, Agualatente, Agualatunte, Risco Blanco and Taidía, who have also had many problems and continue to have them, and some of them for several months because the solutions are not immediate,” he stated.
Meloneras Commercial
During the plenary session, a minor modification to the General Urban Development Plan (PGOU) was definitively approved. This modification, requested by the company Fund Grube SA, allows for the renovation of the commercial kiosks on plot C-3 in the Meloneras 2-A development. The modification, which required a favorable environmental assessment from the City Council's environmental body and was subject to public consultation, allows the maximum buildable area on the 4.515 m² commercial plot to be increased from 0,80 m²/m² to 1 m²/m², while respecting the height of 6 meters on a single floor and 100% occupancy, as established by the PGOU'96.
Bill Pay
Two extrajudicial recognitions of credit were also approved at this plenary session to pay outstanding invoices totaling approximately 978.990 euros, corresponding to different council departments and for different services, such as transport for users of the Occupational Center, the comprehensive management of the Day Center for the Elderly in San Fernando de Maspalomas, the water supply that Canaragua has provided to municipal facilities and Parks and Gardens, the urgent repair of the dining room and kitchen of the CEIP Pepe Monagas, public lighting and other actions of the council departments of Social Services, New Technologies, Roads and Works, Motor Pool and Urban Planning.
software solutions
Furthermore, the plenary session agreed to amend and supplement the agreement for the municipality's participation in the dynamic system for acquiring licenses and usage rights for software solutions in both on-premises and cloud-based formats, promoted by the University of La Laguna. This agreement had already been approved in the plenary session of November 27th, but without including the corresponding financial statement with the estimated maximum expenditure. In this regard, San Bartolomé de Tirajana has committed to participating in the agreement for an annual amount of €150.000 for each of the two formats over a period of six years, setting a maximum budget of €1,8 million for this purpose.
Budget Settlement
In this same session, the approval of the 2025 Budget settlement was also reported, showing a bank balance of almost €290.185.460 and a total Treasury surplus of €276.219.000. The mayor explained that after deducting doubtful accounts receivable, amounting to approximately €34.756.933, and earmarked funding, totaling around €24,2 million, the Treasury surplus for general expenses amounts to approximately €217.257.000, which is the amount the City Council will have available within the spending cap.
Another matter addressed in the plenary session was the approval of the '2027-2029 Medium-Term Budget Plan'. Marco Aurelio Pérez highlighted that this four-year plan “works with a scenario very similar to the current spending cap, and sets revenues and expenditures at around 110 million euros annually.”
Not to the war
The City Council also unanimously approved a motion from the Socialist Group at this session opposing the war in Iran and defending international law, the Charter of the United Nations, and the principles of peaceful conflict resolution. This motion demands an immediate cessation of hostilities and a diplomatic resolution of the conflict by the powers involved (the United States, Israel, and Iran). Mayor Marco Aurelio Pérez emphasized the governing group's support for this motion, "especially considering Maspalomas' designation as a Rotary City of Peace for the peaceful and respectful coexistence of its residents."
