The president announced on Twitter that 75% of Fodes will be managed by an institution created by the Executive. Mayors, including those of the New Ideas party, will have to seek permission from a new state entity.
In a bombardment of Twitter announcements by President Nayib Bukele of changes in his government officials, he also reported that he would send a proposal to the new Assembly so that mayors would receive less money from the Economic Development Fund and (Fodes) and that resources be centralized in a state institution that it will create to manage the public funds allocated by the Constitution to municipalities.
Mayors will no longer receive 10% of the state’s current revenue, but 6%, Bukele explained on Twitter. In addition, a “National Directorate of Municipal Works” will be created with government funds, which will be responsible for approving projects requested by mayors.
SEE: Bukele hires new lobbyists for $ 1.2 million, according to a site specializing in lobbying monitoring
Basically, with this announcement, Bukele leaves his own elected mayors tied, as the February 28 election results gave New Ideas, the political institute that Bukele considers an official party, more than 57% of the country’s 262 mayors.
“We will show (again) that you can do much more, with less. The money is enough, when no one steals “, wrote the president.
The distribution of codes would remain the same as provided for in the current code law: 25% for operating expenses and 75% for works, however, mayors will not be able to decide which works are done and which are not, despite this fact. , counselors are aware of the needs of their communities.
The new Assembly that takes office on May 1, 2021 will be controlled mostly by the deputies of the New Ideas party, so that the amendment of the law to Fodes to reduce its percentage from 10% to 6% can be done by the Executive without any problem.
To achieve this reform, only 43 votes are needed and they have more than these. What the government cannot do is to permanently withdraw the allocation of financial resources from the state for the functioning of town halls, as this is provided for in the Constitution of the Republic.
What President Bukele does not explain is where he will get the funds to create more bureaucracy with the new “National Directorate of Municipal Works”, given that by transferring money to the mayors’ accounts, this new institution will be responsible for managing , month by month, millions of dollars in the current income of the state that comes from Salvadoran taxes.
The new national direction announced by Bukele will be directed by Álvaro O’Byrne, the current director of FOVIAL.
The role that the Institute of Municipal Development (ISDEM) will play, which currently deals with the deposit of the money that the Ministry of Finance sends monthly from Fodes to the municipal accounts, also remains adrift.
AND: The 4 recent changes in the Bukele government cabinet
Bukele’s announcement follows a standard that the Ministry of Finance has maintained with municipalities of more than $ 300 million since the middle of last year.
The head of the branch, Alejandro Zelaya, reiterated many times that they did not pay him, because the state finances are not enough, but Bukele’s announcement suggests that he is waiting for the new mayors to take over in order to make the payment effective.
Before the election and during the election campaign, opposition parties said the government had not transferred Fodes to mayors because it used it as a “political tool” to leave them at an “electoral disadvantage”, in addition to not transferring them. the advance of political debt.
“They will assassinate FODES, municipal autonomy and decentralization. Another spectacular institutional failure for our country “, criticized the mayor of San Salvador, Ernesto Muyshondt.