Mallorca waste fee row: PSIB targets €43m Tirme payment

Mallorca’s planned waste-fee revision and a new €43 million payment to Tirme are facing a challenge from the PSIB. The Socialist party said on Friday it will file a complaint with the Consell de Mallorca to stop both procedures. Its spokeswoman Catalina Cladera says people on the island could otherwise be paying an inflated, unjustified waste fee.

The party says the reports already available give the Council enough grounds to halt the fee review and the extra payment. It also dismissed explanations given by finance councillor Rafel Bosch at Thursday’s plenary session as insufficient.

Audit report raises questions over earlier payment

Cladera pointed to a Sindicatura de Cuentas report on the Consell de Mallorca’s 2023 accounts. It examined the first budget amendment of the current term, which was later cancelled.

According to the PSIB, that measure sent more than €43 million from cash surpluses to Tirme. The audit body concluded that the payment had been made outside the applicable legal framework, the party said.

The report says grants to Tirme did not appear in the 2023 plan or in later amendments. The PSIB says it also found missing details on the legal rules, how the money would be accounted for, compatibility with other aid and guarantees for advance payments.

€103 million paid during current term

The island government later approved two further payments to Tirme: €19 million in 2024 and €41 million in July, Cladera said. That brings the total paid during the current term to €103 million.

Cladera also cited a report from the Consell de Mallorca’s Intervención department, which she says calls for a thorough review of the method used to calculate the waste fee. The charge could be substantially lower for Mallorca’s citizens, she said.

She urged Consell president Llorenç Galmés and Bosch to stop the pending files, review the calculation method and ensure public money serves the general interest. The PSIB has also called on the PP to back its proposal when it is debated in Parliament next Tuesday.

Topics: Environment · Politics

Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com