Government gives Town Halls one month to present overdue bills

Sáenz de Santamaría today

Councils must send unpaid bills dated before December 31, 2011

SPAIN (Agencies) The salient item that came out of today's Council of Ministers, according to the Government spokeswoman, Soraya Sáenz de Santamaría, is that those Ayuntamientos with bills due to be paid before December 31, 2011, in order that the small businesses that are owed money can be paid directly by a bank, with the State's backing. The bills must be sent in by the municipal corporations - not the businesses themselves - to the Ministry of the Treasury and Public Administrations before March 15. In addition,>>
and before December 31 this year, the councils receiving this help must send in a plan of the adjustments that will allow them to face paying back these loans. The purpose of these financial measures is so that the many thousands of small businesses, which are the most heavily impacted by municipal debt, that have been carrying out work for the councils, can be guaranteed payment and thus have the liquidity to avoid closure, and so that in future the financial viability of the municipality is ascertained. Asked how exactly the plan is going to work and when, the Moncloa spokeswoman said, "First, we have to know exactly how much we are talking about, how much is actually owed," explaining that this was the reason the municipalities are being asked to send in their own figures.