Silves council wants to borrow €4.4 million for a range of ‘essential works’ as its mayor, Rosa Palma, says that the council “lacks its own financial resources.”
The council wants the money to carry out 17 projects and the mayor believes that the use of a loan is the wisest way to fund the "indispensable" work in the Silves council area.
The opposition says the works hardly can be considered as priorities and do not equally benefit the Silves population with Messines getting the lion's share.
The funding decision will be taken at an extraordinary meeting of the municipal assembly, scheduled for June 12th as the Executive already has met and passed the controversial resolution on May 27th.
The proposal is for a medium and a long term loan for a total of €4.4 million for 'municipal investments.'
Palma explained that the council executive felt the need for this bank loan due to the "lack of its own financial resources" and the "urgent need to undertake a number of projects that are indispensable and will benefit the population and will help the development of Silves."
The projects include the completion of the renovation of the historic centre of Silves (€500,000), the fairground and market in São Bartolomeu de Messines (€680,000), water supply system also in Messines (€508,000), the construction of a headquarters for Armaçao de Pêra parish council (€340,000) and the renovation of the parking area serving the Silves municipal swimming pools (€249,000), among others.
The mayor said, rather incongrously, that during her first term which ends in 2017, "the municipality of Silves will have gone down the path of debt reduction, aimed at consolidating public finances."
Palma also explained her plan to reduce the debt related to the Viga D'Ouro scam left by Isobel Soares for her to clear up. The 2005/2007 overspend under highly suspicious circumstances left Silves ratepayers picking up the multi-million euro tab and Palma, on taking office, had to increase council borrowings to pay off the banks which owned the contractor's debt.
Soares managed to walk away from the implied corruption involved in the Viga D’Ouro contracts and walked into the top job at Aguas do Algarve where she remains, but the game is not over a she now faces scrutiny over Silves' finances 2011/12 from the Tribunal de Contas - specifically the Viga D'Ouro expenditure - as do her colleagues in positions of power at the time of this massive scam.
For Viga D'Ouro, see:
http://www.algarvedailynews.com/news/2584-silves-council-beggared-by-viga-d-ouro-payments
http://www.algarvedailynews.com/news/508-silves-new-mayor-lifts-the-lid-on-the-council-s-finances
