The National Association of Municipal Farm Inspectors has warned the country that new waste collection requirements in Spain have started a financial crisis for local authorities estimated to exceed 2 billion euros in 2025. Data handled by various private bodies reflect this, and inspectors at the annual pre-hall of the parliament showed that the planned expenditures for the management of domestic funds amounted to 5.325 billion euros, while the revenues amounted to 5.325 billion euros. The new one amounts to just 3.488 billion. This difference reflects an application rate of 65.5%, which is within the legal obligation that taxes not be in the red.
The mandate, introduced by state legislation in July 2022, will now require taxpayers to cover 100% of the cost, after decades of creating a model where costs and taxes were combined to absorb service costs. This means that even if the legal obligations are fulfilled, the average interest rate approved by the council could be even higher, resulting in a $2 billion deficit in the stock market, explained Juan Ignacio Gomar, a member of the association’s expert committee.
Segun explains that experts involved in the Libro Branco, which the association plans to publish this week, explained that the change created “anxiety and great inequality among contributors” because the state’s norms “skimmed the clause with the obligation for the ayuntamiento to establish its mandate.” Mr Gomar said the fees paid differed significantly between some municipalities and others, warning that “some mandates would be rendered ineffective and that would give rise to very notable corrupt policies”. The financial impact could be significant if a local company claims contributions during several exercises and is later struck down by a court. “In three or four years we will have a council that will have to pay back millions of euros.”
The problem worsens and suddenly occurs when there were no previous problems. In municipalities that have introduced it, prices have increased suddenly by more than 200 euros per house in some cases. Mr Gomar said the increased financial pressure was “extraordinary”, especially as older people were unaware of real changes in services. “If the authorities were competent before funding management and treatment, now this task has become nerve-wracking for citizens because they do not understand why,” he summarizes.
Experts remember that the European Directive obliges taxpayers to transfer waste disposal costs, but does not oblige them to charge a specific fee, much less a fee that is not in the red. He points out that each state can choose a mechanism to achieve its environmental goals, and Spain has chosen the most drastic one.
As a result, technical and legal uncertainties are transferred to each district. The obligation to apply the principle of payment per generation, where the most waste is generated, is one of the biggest sources of dispute and opens the door to litigation. “How do you calculate the origin of each vehicle or asset?” Gomar says.
In large cities, the amount and diversity of waste is greater and individual measurements are very complex. Municipal codes have developed different standards for approaching this calculation, paving the way for major challenges. Sentences handed down by autonomous superior courts can vary between courts, and the Supreme Court does not yet have fixed principles regarding many aspects discussed. “This is going to be something like a positive value,” Gomar summarized in relation to the constitutional ruling that declared illegal the old tax calculations that recorded increases in the value of natural land in urban areas.
The association’s president, Arturo Delgado, believes the situation is the result of local haciendas being “abandoned by councilors for years, even decades.” The report said waste rates were regulated by “inadequate and deficient regulations that caused a number of problems” and mandates to avoid deficits had an abrupt impact on municipal finances.
Delgado recalled that although Spain acted on the European Commission’s recommendations to establish measures to achieve environmental goals, the decision to impose a compulsory tax on all municipalities was adopted “in a naive way” and without any prescriptive provision provided, leaving technical details behind. configuration of each. Inspectors have confirmed that the results will hastily shift the economic burden onto both local authorities and the public, translating into thousands of hours of technical work and predictably triggering litigation.
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