The Provincial Council of Albacete has announced on Wednesday a grant line of 330,000 euros for the hiring of grouped positions of secretariat and intervention in small municipalities, which in this edition will also cover municipalities with up to 2,000 inhabitants, compared to the previous limit of 1,000 inhabitants.
The Deputy for Technical Assistance to Municipalities, Llanos Sánchez, has reported that from this Thursday until August 31, municipalities can apply for the call electronically through the Provincial Council’s electronic headquarters.
Sánchez explained that this is «an essential grant that has a direct impact on our municipalities and the quality of services provided to residents.»
In the 2024 call, 19 municipalities that shared the secretariat and intervention positions with other municipalities, meaning they grouped together due to their small budgets to have the same official in charge of these essential tasks, received this aid, as detailed by the deputy. The financial injection is aimed at covering the salary and social security costs of these professionals.
Following a study by the Provincial Council and the changes in ordinances in 2024, the institution’s team considered the difficulties that some of these groupings of small municipalities had in maintaining these positions and not being able to qualify for aid due to exceeding 1,000 inhabitants.
The deputy emphasized that «every euro counts in these small municipalities» and «having access to a figure like that of secretariat and intervention personnel is a guarantee of legality, transparency, and good management.»
She also stated that the measure is «key against depopulation because it keeps local administration alive in a professional and efficient manner.»
The grants will be up to 30,000 euros per municipality, with 6,000 euros for each day of service that the official from the grouping devotes to the municipality. Additionally, this year, a positive discrimination criterion has been included to benefit municipalities that only receive one day of service, in which case they will receive 8,000 euros in grants.
Sánchez highlighted that as part of «the municipalist vocation of the provincial government of Santi Cabañero,» this grant line has increased by 50% since 2019.
«The Technical Assistance to Municipalities department is also responsible for promoting training actions and courses aimed at officials in a continuous policy to make the Provincial Council the ‘town hall of town halls’,» the deputy explained.
FUENTE