The president of the Provincial Government of A Coruña, Valentín González Formoso, has warned that the province’s 93 municipalities are facing serious difficulties in maintaining basic public services and are “on the verge of financial collapse.” He attributed the situation to insufficient funding and the continued assumption of responsibilities that do not formally belong to local authorities.
Formoso made the remarks before the Economy Committee of the Parliament of Galicia, where he presented the provincial institution’s accounts for 2027, the final year of the current term. The proposed budget would reach €293.93 million, an annual increase of 14.6%, making it the largest in the institution’s history. He said that almost all of the additional resources would come from higher state transfers.
According to Formoso, energy supplies, wastewater treatment, waste collection and processing, and home-help services are placing increasing pressure on municipal budgets. He argued that the lack of funding for local governments is widening social, healthcare and territorial inequalities because municipal services respond directly to residents’ essential needs.
He also criticised the transfer of so-called non-statutory responsibilities to councils without assessing their real cost or providing the funds required to deliver them. The 2027 budget proposal of the Galician government includes an 8.4% increase in the unconditional portion of the Galician Local Cooperation Fund, bringing it to €170 million for the region’s 313 municipalities. Formoso acknowledged the increase but said it remained insufficient.
He claimed that the provincial government’s relative budgetary effort to support municipalities is 20 times greater than that of the Galician government. He also criticised the fact that the Provincial Government of A Coruña receives no money from the regional cooperation fund, arguing that this conflicts with the constitutional principle that local authorities, including provinces, should participate in regional tax revenues.
Formoso called on the Galician Parliament to undertake a profound reform of local financing while processing the regional bill on local administration.
The proposed provincial budget includes a 4.54% increase for the Plan Único de Concellos, initially endowed with €92 million for municipal works and services. Social spending would also rise by 4.6% to €34.555 million, representing 11.75% of total expenditure. Most of the increase would go to the home-help service, for which the provincial government expects to finance 395,804 hours.
The president highlighted initiatives aimed at addressing depopulation and ageing, including Mercanavila and planned residential support centres for older people. The first centres are expected to be located in As Pontes, Rianxo and Ordes. Each facility is described as having 59 places divided into four living units.
Formoso said the provincial government would maintain zero debt, take out no loans and keep provincial fees and public charges frozen.
During the committee session, Socialist lawmaker Patricia Iglesias praised the provincial institution’s approach and accused the People’s Party of transferring responsibilities to municipalities without the necessary funding. BNG lawmaker Iria Taibo called for an urgent overhaul of local financing and said councils were assuming responsibilities because of action or inaction by the Galician government.
The opposition rejected the criticism of the regional budget. Its representative described Formoso’s position as contradictory because he said the provincial government did not need to borrow or raise fees while also claiming that municipalities were facing financing problems. The representative also accused the provincial institution of bypassing public subsidy rules when hiring an association linked to prominent BNG members, a claim that was rejected by the governing parties.
Sources: elDiario.es.