The Vélez-Málaga council has rejected the proposal from Andalucía por Sí to suspend the receipts for the new waste tax. PP and GIPMTM voted against it, while PSOE, Vox, Andalucía por Sí, and the unaffiliated councillor supported the suspension.
The ordinary council meeting held this Tuesday in Vélez-Málaga rejected the proposal from Andalucía por Sí to suspend the receipts for the new municipal waste tax. The vote passed with the votes against from the councillors of the bipartite government, from PP and GIPMTM, as reported by Diario Sur. PSOE, Vox, Andalucía por Sí, and the unaffiliated councillor Elías García supported the suspension proposed by the Andalusian party.
More than fifty citizens attended the session and occupied the spaces designated for the public. Unlike the council meeting at the end of August, when protests forced an early adjournment, the debate this Tuesday proceeded without incidents during the discussion of the proposal. On August 31, protests from residents and merchants prevented the completion of the agenda.
The spokesperson for Andalucía por Sí, José Pino, argued that the City Council has the capacity to halt the procedure and rejected the local government's argument that it is not legally possible. “You can suspend this tax,” he insisted during the debate. Pino also criticized that the implementation of the new receipt has not been accompanied by an equivalent fiscal compensation. “There’s no money to reduce the IBI but there is for fairs, parties, and fanfares,” he expressed.
The debate also touched on the government pact. Pino publicly offered PP the support of his group to break the coalition it maintains with GIPMTM until the end of the term in May 2027. The mayor, Jesús Lupiáñez (PP), did not respond to that offer during this point of the council meeting. The spokespersons for PSOE and Vox, Víctor González and Javier Herreros, respectively, also expressed criticism of the bipartite government's actions and called for a reduction in the IBI rate to compensate for the tax.
The councillor for Finance, Manuel Gutiérrez (PP), defended the opposing position based on a technical report presented at the start of the debate which, according to the municipal government, concludes that it is not appropriate to halt the collection because the expected revenues are included in the City Council's adjustment plans. As an alternative, the councillor asked taxpayers who detect errors in their settlements to file appeals and proposed to expedite their resolution, avoid certain surcharges while they are processed, and refund any amounts incorrectly paid when the claim is deemed valid.
The bipartite government maintains that the receipts must continue to be processed, although it keeps the individual review of cases with possible incidents open, including duplications, discrepancies in the square meters attributed to certain premises, or other errors. The City Council adds that the Collection Board will continue to directly assist affected taxpayers.
The tax began to be applied on January 1. The two tax ordinances, one for homes and assimilated properties and another for economic activities, were definitively approved by the council on October 31, 2025, and published in the Official Bulletin of the Province on December 3. Its implementation responds to the State Law 7/2022, which requires municipalities to have a specific, differentiated, and non-deficit tax or service to finance the collection, transport, and treatment of waste. The entry into force has generated complaints in other municipalities such as Alhaurín de la Torre.
In Vélez-Málaga, for homes, the estimates used during the processing place the receipts between 101.86 and 135.54 euros annually. The fee includes a fixed part of 62.66 euros and a variable part depending on factors such as the area, the cadastral value, and the zone assigned to the property. In the case of businesses and economic activities, the activity, estimated waste generation, and the area of the establishment also come into play. The City Council calculated an annual collection close to 7.2 million euros.
The application of the first receipts has forced the City Council and the Provincial Collection Board to open a review process for possible anomalies. Both agreed to individually study cases of self-employed individuals and companies with possible duplications, census errors, or discrepancies in the data used to calculate the fees. The local government insists that those affected must appeal each settlement when they believe it contains errors.
The City Council has reminded that the ordinance includes social reductions. Finance estimates that 1,051 households could qualify for a 95% reduction if they meet the established vulnerability requirements and calculates that another 350 large families could access a 50% reduction. These are figures of potential beneficiaries, not of bonuses already granted. According to the opposition, these bonuses will barely total 127,000 euros annually.
The controversy will continue on the streets. Andalucía por Sí, PSOE, and Vox of Vélez-Málaga have called for a rally on October 7, at 20:00, in the plaza de las Carmelitas, against the tax, aiming to involve other opposition groups, collectives, and civic entities. The socialists also maintain the judicial route against the ordinances. Meanwhile, the bipartite government rules out a general suspension.
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