PP renews call for mayor to cut waste charge, urging 2027 budget to include Fuerteventura Island Council compensation

The People’s Party (PP) in Puerto del Rosario has once again proposed a way to reduce the waste charge paid by families, self-employed workers and small businesses in the municipality: Fuerteventura Island Council should compensate the Town Council for hosting the island’s waste treatment plant. The party is calling for the measure to be included in the 2027 municipal budget and recalls that CC and PSOE rejected a proposal to that effect during the 2026 budget process.

The party believes Puerto del Rosario should not have to bear, without compensation, the cost of a service that benefits the whole of Fuerteventura. It says the Town Council will face €1.5 million in waste management costs during 2026. Compensation for that sum, it argues, would ease the municipal budget and help reduce the bill paid by taxpayers.

Ana Padilla, the PP’s spokesperson on Puerto del Rosario Town Council, said: “If the mayor genuinely wants to ease the pressure on families and small businesses, he needs to negotiate with Fuerteventura Island Council and stop relying on sticking plasters. We cannot settle for small discounts when there is an alternative that would tackle the problem much more effectively”.

The party says the proposal is not new. During the preparation of the 2026 municipal budget, it put forward an amendment calling for compensation for the €1.5 million the Town Council had to pay Fuerteventura Island Council, but the municipal government, made up of CC and PSOE, rejected it.

Now that the 2027 budget is being prepared, the PP believes there is a fresh opportunity to reverse that decision and establish an annual compensation mechanism to help reduce the financial burden on the municipality.

“We raised this while the 2026 budget was being drawn up, and the governing group voted against it. We continue to make exactly the same case because we believe it is a solution that deserves to be examined and negotiated. The mayor cannot dismiss alternatives and then complain about the impact the charge is having on residents”, Padilla said.

Compensation for providing a service to the whole island

The PP argues that Puerto del Rosario should receive financial compensation for hosting the island’s waste treatment plant, given that the facility serves all of Fuerteventura.

The party says compensation would allow waste management costs to be addressed more fairly, rather than limiting the municipal response to passing the increase on to taxpayers.

“Puerto del Rosario is home to a facility that serves the whole island. It is reasonable for there to be financial compensation for that, and for the money to help reduce the burden being placed on our residents. This is not an improvised measure, but a proposal we have been putting forward since the start of the legislative term”, the PP spokesperson said.

The PP also criticised the municipal government’s handling of the fiscal bylaw governing the waste charge. In its view, the process was marked by a lack of foresight, leaving taxpayers with questions and no prior work on alternatives to cushion the increase.

Padilla said she regretted that “we have been warning for some time about the consequences this increase would have for families and small business owners. The Town Council knew it had to deal with this situation and should have planned ahead, considering all the available options before imposing a greater financial burden on residents”.

The party maintains that discounts may help some taxpayers but believes they are no substitute for a broader solution that would provide a lasting reduction in the cost of the service.

“The mayor still has time to change course. The 2027 budget must provide answers to residents’ problems, not preserve a tax burden that is affecting families and small businesses. If he really wants to cut the waste charge, there is a concrete proposal on the table. It is now up to him to decide whether he is willing to support it”, Ana Padilla concluded.