Neighbors of the private Kentucky neighborhood, in Funes, seek independence from the municipality due to high taxes and lack of services. They propose forming a commune to manage their own resources.
Neighbors of the private Kentucky neighborhood, in Funes, seek independence from the municipality due to high taxes and lack of services. They propose forming a commune to manage their own resources.
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In Funes, Santa Fe, a group of residents of the exclusive gated community Kentucky Club de Campo, where Lionel Messi has properties, is evaluating separating from the municipality and forming an independent commune. This unusual measure is due to discontent over the increase in municipal taxes and the fact that they pay fees for services they do not receive. In mid-September, the neighbors, led by businessman Juan Félix Rossetti and with the support of provincial deputy Silvia Malfesi of the Libertarian Party, presented a legal opinion proposing this split.
The document was drafted by lawyer Pablo Abdón Torres Barthe, who assures that it is viable from a legal point of view. According to Torres Barthe, Kentucky residents already provide almost all the services they enjoy, including water, garbage collection, electricity and lighting, while municipal rates continue to increase without offering them compensation. Torres Barthe compared the situation to the American War of Independence, where colonists rebelled over high taxes without representation or services.
One of the points of greatest controversy is the increase in the cost of expenses and the Real Estate Tax. Some owners have received invoices that exceed 2 million pesos per lot, which has generated outrage. The Kentucky Country Club, known for being home to some of the region’s wealthiest families, sees independence as a chance to manage its own resources and decide its rates. According to Torres Barthe, if independence is achieved, the neighborhood would receive provincial co-participation funds and could become a “zero-rate municipality”, where residents would not only stop paying, but would receive money for residing there.
This movement, which could become the first case of a private neighborhood in Argentina to be established as a commune, is based on article 106 of the Constitution of Santa Fe, which allows any population center with its own life to govern its local interests. If it moves forward, the initiative would require a plebiscite or a declaration of independence signed by the majority of residents.
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