Villarejo de Salvanés has been left without its traditional August festivals, at least for the moment. The City Council has postponed the celebrations despite having 225,000 euros budgeted for their organization, due to the lack of several essential officials to complete the administrative procedures and hire the necessary services.
The situation has caused discontent among the neighbors, who question the management of the municipal government and have called for a demonstration for next August 25. Merchants have also warned about the economic impact that the suspension of festivals, which attract activity to the municipality every summer, entails.
The City Council blames the administrative blockage
The local government maintains that the problem is not the lack of money, but the impossibility of completing the necessary procedures on time to hire the services related to the festivals.
Specifically, the City Council points to the absence of an auditor and a treasurer, whose participation is necessary to process certain municipal actions. The Council assures that this situation is severely hindering administrative management.
The mayor, Jesús Díaz Raboso, has also defended that this is not a definitive cancellation, but a postponement, although at the moment no new date has been set to celebrate the festivities.
The neighbors prepare a protest
Discontent has been growing in the municipality and the Neighborhood Association has questioned the explanations offered by the City Council. Those affected claim that the suspension harms both the neighbors and the local establishments, which were expecting an increase in activity during the festivals.
The demonstration is scheduled for August 25, with the aim of showing rejection of the situation and demanding a solution to the administrative blockage.
225,000 euros budgeted and the festivals postponed
The City Council insists that it has the 225,000 euros allocated for the celebrations, but claims that it cannot execute the budget within the necessary deadlines due to the administrative situation of the Council.
The municipal plenary had already approved on July 30, unanimously by all political groups, a motion to demand urgent measures due to the lack of an auditor and municipal treasurer.
The uncertainty also extends to the upcoming patronal festivals, scheduled for October, which could be affected if the City Council does not manage to resolve the administrative problem beforehand.
For now, Villarejo de Salvanés faces an atypical August: with the budget for its festivals approved, but without the celebrations and with the neighbors organizing to protest.