More of 26 mayors of the inside the country They met at the Chamber of Deputies of the Nation to request the reactivation of the national economic contributions intended for urban passenger transport. Through a legislative project – to which he had access The Southern Opinion-, they proposed the creation of a Federal Compensation Fund for Public Transportation Systems for Urban and Suburban Passengers, which will be constituted with resources of a percentage of the “Tax on Liquid Fuels and the Carbon dioxide“.
The initiative was attended by the mayors Pablo Grasso (Rio gallegos) and Othar Macharashvili (Comodoro Rivadavia), that they claimed to the Government of Freedom Advances a distribution equitable, fair and federal of those contributions, warning that it is a essential service.
In this framework, the Chief of Staff of the Municipality of Río Gallegos, Diego Roblesspoke with Radio LU12 AM680 about the details of the initiative promoted by the community leaders to remedy the loss of resources to support public transportation.
“It is important that the mayors of important cities in the country be given space and visibility in the Chamber of Deputies and in the Senate Chamber to be able to raise a problem. The good thing is also that there were mayors who belong to different political forces. That tells you about a logic and legitimacy in the claim and in what is proposed, which has nothing to do with a political/partisan issue“But it has to do with the harsh reality of public passenger transportation in the interior of the country,” said the official.
In this framework, Robles referred to the existing asymmetry in the allocation of resources between the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (AMBA) and the rest of the country.
“The allocation of resources in the form of subsidies is in the Federal Capital and the suburban rings that constitute this core area of high traffic,” he explained.
And he added: “The proposal that was made is a bill that proposes sharing a part of the Tax on Liquid Fuels. This is not the creation of a new tax but rather it is changing the criteria with which it is shared and that not all of it goes to the AMBA, but rather that part is allocated to the inland municipalities that support public transportation, as in our case. , completely autonomously and without any type of assistance.”
In this vein, Mayor Pablo Grasso’s Chief of Staff commented on how the subsidy that came through the extinct Interior Public Transport Compensation Fund.
“The subsidy was discontinued in December of last year. It is not a fixed subsidy, it was calculated monthly based on a controversial average formula that had the kilometers traveled, the social charges that had been paid, the salaries paid, the personal amount, and a host of things that gave you a certain value. and that it was applied as a percentage of distribution of a trust that had been created for this purpose,” Robles explained.
Furthermore, due to the fiscal pact signed by the Government of Mauricio Macri with the Provinces In 2017 and 2018, national contributions to support public transportation had to be matched by similar contributions from provincial coffers.
“That subsidy today should be around 100 million pesos monthly“Robles assured.
In another part of the interview, the Río Gallegos official referred to Javier Milei’s reaction to the sanction of the new Retirement Mobility regime in the Chamber of Deputies. “I am going to defend the box by veto,” declared the head of state.
In this regard, Robles assured that the bill to recompose transportation subsidies “can fall into that same logic on the part of the National Executive.”
“We hope that is not the case and we hope that the Deputies and Senators can find and be the way to alleviate the situations that are going to increase, because the cost of fuel is going to continue to rise, from what the Government says national. In the joint ventures that are being negotiated and that have been negotiated, there are increases that have been signed and were tied to the perception of subsidies that were not given“, the official elaborated.
“There is also a reality that is totally discriminatory because at AMBA Yes, they continue to give you subsidies so that you can have a rate of 250 pesos and the rest of the interior is not given any type of assistance, so the rates are around 1,000 pesos in many locations in the country,” he added.
Gas rates
On the other hand, the head of the Cabinet of Pablo Grasso spoke about the protection of Federal Justice to stop the increase in gas rates in Santa Cruz.
“We welcome it. The Municipality was the first to file a legal action. We hope that compliance occurs effectively,” he said.
In that sense, he added: “The issue of gas and electricity was also present in Congress. So I think we have to understand that in these latitudes it is not a luxury, but rather a necessity and that on top of that we as producers cannot be paying much higher gas rates than those paid in other places in the country.“.
Bonus payment in June 2024
Finally, the Chief of Staff of the Municipality of Río Gallegos He referred to the payment to municipal workers of the Supplementary Annual Salary (SAC)known as aguinaldo, for the month of June 2024. It should be noted that this Wednesday, the Government of Santa Cruz reported that the bonus for provincial workers would be paid on the last business day of June, that is, Friday the 28th.
“I know when the Municipality pays the bonus because it is my responsibility, why it is our obligation, we are going to pay it and we know the date of when we are going to pay it, but we are not going to announce it because, just as we do not announce the payment We are not going to do the salaries with the complementary annual salary either,” he assured.
However, he added: “We are finishing liquidating it and we are going to have a financial schedule that will hopefully allow us to pay it as soon as possible to alleviate the situation and bring more than fair money that corresponds to the municipal worker within the legal period established by the norm.“.
