The district of Nosara contributes roughly ¢627 million ($1.06 million) to nicoya city hall every year, according to estimates by local government authorities.
Interim mayor Adriana Rodriguez revealed the amount in a meeting about the administrative independence of Nosara organized by The Voice of Guanacaste on Wednesday, May 30.
“What the study does is project revenue. This amount (¢627 million) represents 10 percent of the total 2018 budget for the municipality, which is around ¢6,000 million ($10.6 million),” the mayor said at the event.
According to the document, the money that the district contributes comes from three areas: commercial and liquor licenses, construction permits and real estate taxes. See document here.
Despite the fact that Nosara is along the coast, the local government says that it doesn’t receive any revenue from the maritime zone because the territory is part of the Ostional Wildlife Refuge.
“Eventually, where we could charge, would be in the Garza area, once there is a zoning plan. But it wouldn’t be a lot,” the mayor said.
Discord
The study was done by the city planning department on May 5, a month before the plebiscite.
The ‘no’ camp has repeatedly claimed that this study doesn’t exist, alleged irregularities in the committee that organized the plebiscite and has filed appeals with the Nicoya city council and the Supreme Elections Court (TSE).
At the beginning of the meeting, ‘no’ camp representative Edwin Castillo asked the mayor about the inexistence of this document because of the lack of awareness that there was an estimate about how much Nosara contributes to Nicoya.
“There is no serious, responsible study about the reach of this project,” Castillo said, minutes before the interim mayor said the report existed. “How are you going to jump out of an airplane without a parachute?”
What Will Nicoya Do?
If ‘yes’ wins the plebiscite next Sunday, the city says it has other projects to make up for losing the 10 percent that Nosara contributes.
The parking meter project and updating the land registry in order to identify people that evade taxes are some of the plans that the mayor mentioned.
On the other had, if ‘no’ wins, Rodriguez said that they will keep working hand in hand with organizations and district councils and continue attending the canton’s needs.
“If the decision is for Nosara to create a Municipal District Council, Nicoya won’t have administrative or political responsibility for that district, which we currently use a lot. Today, the city invests a lot of operational work to generate the revenue hat we currently receive,” the mayor said.
Comments