[Anonymous]

It seems that some home owners near me are facing huge SUMA bills this year. These are all urbanised homes, but they seem to being hit with similar charges to “land grabbed” development of rustic homes.

I guess this will be the final straw for many.

http://www.coastrider.net/main/news-mainmenu-26/local-news/6846-united-we-stand.html

[Anonymous]

Would be interesting to see the tender process for the building works… 😈

[peterhun]

Local and national governments are going to be desperate for income over the next decade or so and where better to get it than from rich foreigners …

[katy]

I have heard of this happening in 2 urbanisations in marbella for “renewal of infrastructure”. They are being asked tp pay about 8000 euro. 1 in Valencia too. Because this is only word of mouth I presume there are more. Probably the new cash cow, they think all foreigners have a black american express card!

[Anonymous]

Can someone explain what SUMA is for the ignorant. IBI?

If so then this must affect everyone as IBI is payable based on the Valor Catastral of the property.

[petej]

Suma is just the name given to the tax collection service in the Alicante area, they collect the IBI and much more,

http://www.suma.es

[Anonymous]

I am still a little confused.

If revenue has to be increased to fund a municipal project is it not the case that all residents in the Alicante region (so hundreds of thousands) are meet with this higher charge.

What specific tax is being levied on these people, and why not the entire population of the region? Is this some specific local tax/law?? Why have just a few hundred residents being identified as responsible for this SUMA bill?

[Anonymous]

These “taxes” or charges are from the local ayuntamiento. If I understand the situation correctly, this work applies only to a small (older part) of the urbanisation here. As for the specifics, I really don’t know other than hearsay & the article linked above, but I think it is a charge for improving/renewing the sewage pipes (and possible the road surfaces) for a few streets. I would guess there are a few hundred homes affected. The roads in this area are in a terrible state, and I guess were never adopted by the town hall. Maybe this will change after the work has been completed.

I took a drive around these streets yesterday, and there are very many protest banners displayed. It seems like people are VERY upset, and sticking together to fight this charge. However, I guess there wont get anywhere.

[katy]

http://www.theolivepress.es/2010/03/12/chiclana-protest/

A similar story here. Good points about tendering in one of the comments below. There was the one a couple of years ago too on Estepona Golf where a few residents found a charge on their homes to pay for infrastructure for new developments nearby. It is very similar to the “land grab” cases except they don’t take your land….just charge you for “services” you already have!

[rt21]

if the works are in excess of £3.9 million or the equivelant in euros then the Ayuntamiendo couldn’t simply award the business to their “mates” without breaking the E.U. Public Procurement Regulations. Contracts over that value have to be formally tendered by issuing a Notice in the OJEU (Official Journal of the European Union)

The Ayuntamiento couldn’t artificially dis aggregate the works in order to avoid the rules either.

If a public body breaks the rules the National Government could face fines at a European level and the local authority could face stiff fines in a civil court. The rules have been significantly tightened up since January of this year in order to ensure that public bodies do not abuse their power in terms of letting public contracts.

Richard

[Anonymous]

I’m sure they’ll find a way round it!!

[Anonymous]

They won’t even bother to do that, they’ll just do what they do with all EU directives – simply ignore it.

[katy]

Yes the budget will come out at 3.8 million. Actual cost 2.8 million and the rest for kick-backs 😆

[Author]

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