From left: the mayor of Valencia, María José Catalá, and the mayor of Castellón, Begoña Carrasco.RS (EP) / CR (EP)
Citizens cannot know how much money the Mayor of Valencia, María José Catalá (PP), earned as a collaborating professor at the International University of Valencia (VIU), which she herself privatized as Minister of Education, nor what salary she earned from the university receives university. Cardinal Herrera CEU. Nor is the salary that the mayor of Castellón, Begoña Carrasco (PP), received as a lawyer for the Office for Victims of Crime. Both use tricks and tricks to keep their income secret, even though the law requires them to submit a declaration of assets and activities in which these amounts must be included.
The regulations of the Valencia City Council, which establish the operating rules, indicate that the templates for the submission of these declarations “comply with the specifications of Decree 191/2010, of November 19, of the Consell” and in this it is noted that they “the Net income earned in the year before the declaration must contain information on the source of the income. María José Catalá doesn’t. It only points out their activities, but gives no indication of what is perceived to be their performance.
The obscurantism surrounding these remunerations is not new. As opposition leader, the people’s leader refused to make her salary public in the previous election period. After repeated warnings from the Socialists, Catalá simply replied that her income tax return was available for inspection. “It is their way of understanding democracy and accountability,” summarizes the socialist city councilor Elisa Valía. “Of course it is relevant to know who gets paid and how much,” they add. Given the mayor’s repeated refusals, the Socialist Group plans to approach the secretary to determine whether the data offered by the People’s Party is sufficient to comply with the rule.
Asset growth
In addition to the declarations after taking office, mayors and municipal councils are obliged to report changes in assets and to make a further declaration after their mandate has expired. The aim is to have public information that may be relevant to the diagnosis of possible unlawful conduct or raise doubts about its legality.
In the Castellón City Council, the Socialist Group has already consulted the Secretary General. The mayor and party colleague of Catalá refuses to reveal her salary as a lawyer. The Socialists called on the minister to clarify “which data should be included in the statement”. “It refers to revenue from the previous year and therefore in this case refers to the year 2022,” the secretary replied. However, Begoña Carrasco considers that she should not claim this remuneration since she was on leave from her position at the Office for Victims of Crime when she took office.
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According to the Socialist spokesperson in the Castellón City Council, Patricia Puerta, Carrasco lied in the plenary session in which he was asked about these emoluments. “It is an absolute joke,” said Puerta, who called for an apology from the elected representative and considered that the mayor “denigrates the image of the mayor’s office and therefore the image of the city council.”
In the Valencia City Council, it is not just the mayor who is responsible for salaries. Councilor José Marí Olano has done the same, although in this case the popular councilor has not given up his private activities and continues to devote 25% of his time to local politics. In addition to this salary as a major projects delegate, he devotes 75% of his working day to legal work, including consulting in a public company, working as a partner in a consulting firm and chairing the Board of Trustees of the Universitas Foundation. As far as he is concerned, the socialists have also demanded that he declare from which sources he receives his income and what the gross amount of it is.