Govern allocates €3.6m in 2020 budget for Sant Ferran school

reunio---pressupostosjp1Formentera president Alejandra Ferrer and councillor of economy and the tax office, Bartomeu Escandell, sat down at local government headquarters today with Rosario Sánchez and Joan Ignasi Morey, the heads of the Balearic tax office and budgets section, respectively, to get a look at Formentera’s place in the regional government’s latest spending plans. The meeting was also attended by local vice-presidents Ana Juan and Rafael Ramírez.

Investing in Formentera
Investment in educational infrastructure is one of the budget’s standout features, including the €3.6-million projected completion of work on the new Sant Ferran school. Nearly half a million euros (€470K) are earmarked for ongoing construction of an 18-bed residence for the elderly.

In healthcare, crews are wrapping up construction so the Eivissa and Formentera health department can stay on track for the 2020 rollout of a haemodynamics service. In mobility, the €180K installation of technology in new buses required to standardise highway transport fares across the archipelago is also on the horizon.

President Ferrer was positive about the Govern’s 2020 budgetary scheme for Formentera. “In general, the budgets bode stability and balance in the years ahead”, she said. Ferrer highlighted “vital local investment like the Sant Ferran school or the completion of work on the senior assisted living centre”.

Environment and energy efficiency
The president also underscored the importance of other investment. In environment there will be €364,950 for maintenance on the local water purification plant; a €400K remodel of the third line of production at the desalination plant; €228,750 for efforts by the healthy forests network, like pest control and spread prevention, to tackle the pine processionary.

The budget also includes line items to improve energy efficiency, like €120K in subsidised investment to promote renewable energies and energy self-sufficiency in the public administrations

Agriculture, fishing & food
To make the agrifood industry more dynamic, a quarter of a million euros has been set aside for upkeep of irrigation ponds. A half a million for the Eivissa and Formentera LEADER programme. Ninety-four thousand euros for desalination upgrades at the Formentera irrigation pond. Patrols of the marine reserves.

Culture and patrimony
The budgets also include €120K in funding for the planned Formentera Museum and Cultural Centre Foundation.
 
In total, the budget includes €17.53m for Formentera, €6.73m in investment from Balearic ministries and various public-sector businesses and bodies of the regional government. Half of the total budget —€8.77m— is funding from the Balearic government to Formentera.

Speaking generally, Balearic minister Sánchez called the budget “socially and financially responsible”. The plans reflect not only a consolidation of funding for social policies, but expansion, too. At €3.09 million, such policies account for 70.5% of the non-financial spending in 2020. Plus, public investment has held steady, as do efforts to control and stabilise public debt.


11 December 2019
Department of Communication
Consell de Formentera