On June 3, Nicoyans will vote on whether or not they agree with Nosara becoming administratively independent from the City of Nicoya.
The process for deciding is known as a plebiscite and it consists of citizens voting in a referendum about a determined proposal.
If approved, Nosara will be able to collect and administer its own revenue via municipal taxes and fines. It will do so through the creation of a Municipal District Council (CMD), a figure created so that far-away districts that are hard to reach can tend to their own social needs.
The Nosara Integral Development Association proposed the initiative for administrative independence in 2014. According to the district’s councilman Marco Ávila, the community has a series of needs.
“The state, both the central government and the local government, neglects the problems in Nosara,” Avila said.
For the CMD to be created, at least 6,148 people must vote “yes” and the total must be more than the “no” votes, according to the Municipal District Council law.
On the day of the vote, the supreme elections tribunal will open 86 voting stations across the canton Nicoya.
Almost A City
If the “yes” vote wins the plebiscite, Nosara residents will elect members of the municipal council in the municipal elections.
This administration will be made up of a local government leader, five district council members and their respective stand-ins and will have the same functions as a mayor and city council members.
Nosarans would no longer vote in Nicoya’s elections for mayor and council members and would have their own administrative building with the same offices as a city hall.
Nosara would be the ninth CMD in the country, joining Cóbano, Lepanto, Paquera and Monte Verde in Puntarenas; Colorado de Abangares in Guanacaste; Peñas Blancas in San Ramón de Alajuela; Cervantes de Alvarado and Tucurrique in the canton of Jiménez.
* Andrea Rodríguez contributed to this report
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