The Municipality of Nicoya will receive 500 million colones ($1 million) more in 2015 compared to 2014, following the approval of the regular initial budget by the Comptroller General of the Republic.
The budget amount for 2015 is ¢3,886,177,964 (about $7,332,411), while in 2014 it was ¢3,313,883,324 ($6,252,610), in other words ¢572,294,640 ($1,079,801) more than the previous year.
The income that the Municipality of Nicoya expects to have during 2015 is grouped into three major categories. The first is normal income of ¢3,108,115,270 ($5,864,368), which represents 79.98%. The second is capital income of ¢599,881,090 ($1,131,851 or 15.44%), and finally there are the resources of previous periods or past administrations with ¢178,181,604 ($336,191 or 4.59%).
The largest category of revenue that the city intends to collect for 2015 is normal income, which groups together all tax revenues, including property, real estate, inheritance and service taxes, among others.
The second largest category of income resources are capital income, which corresponds to transfers from the central government to all of the local governments.
In this category, the executive contribution to Nicoya through Law 8114 stands out in the amount of ¢597,227,875 ($1,126,845) for executing road work projects.
Finally, the third section of income corresponds to funds that were not used in past administrations, which in this case is a specific surplus of ¢178,181,604 ($336,191).
Council Members Question Budget
Nevertheless, some of the council members are uncertain about the submission and approval of the 2015 budget. Such is the case for council members Ana Lizeth Espinoza and Carlos Medina, who still feel doubts about some of the budget categories and alleged inconsistencies in the document.
In a document dated September 22, 2014, Espinoza and Medina affirmed that the 2015 municipal budget was delivered incomplete, without technical studies and planning.
That’s why Espinoza and Medina are waiting for the response from the Comptroller to what they indicated. “We made all of these inconsistencies in the approval of the budget known to the Comptroller. We are waiting for them to respond to us. If they determine that everything is in order, well then, there won’t be anything else to say,” Espinoza explained.
Meanwhile, during the December 15th council session, Mayor Marco Jimenez said the the Comptroller “decides in our favor” upon approving the budget.
54 Local Road Projects
One of the categories that most interests the inhabitants of the canton is investing in more and better roads in Nicoya.
For 2015, the Road Management Technical Unit (UTGV- Unidad Tecnica de Gestion Vial) has an overall budget of ¢442,357,358 ($834,636). Apart from this amount, they will have an additional ¢318,703,215 ($601,326) available for 54 road work projects in the canton.
These funds come from Law 8114, which are granted by the national government for municipalities to invest in resources, construction and maintenance projects for the canton’s road network.
Among the projects that stand out for 2015 is improving the city streets between the cemetery and the Red de Cuido daycare in the Guadalupe neighborhood with asphalt at a cost of ¢40,000,000 ($75,470).
Likewise, rehabilitation of the drainage system between Belen and Las Minas is budgeted at a cost of ¢20,000,000 ($37,735) and mechanized patching of the streets in the San Martin neighborhood is slated at a cost of ¢15,500,000 ($29,245).
In addition, the route between Nambi and La Esperanza will receive mechanized patching with an investment of ¢15,000,000 ($28,300).
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