Jobs For The Boys: Local councillors

Local elections take place in May, and there will be more posts to vote for in Mallorca than ever before. The law on elections allows for specific numbers of town hall councillors depending on the size of municipalities' populations. Towns which have broken through different thresholds include Calvia. Now with over 50,000 registered inhabitants, it can increase its councillors from 21 to 25. Good for it. At the same time that it's adding politicians, it's cutting budgets for promoting tourism and looking after the beaches. Three towns close to upping their councillors to 21 are Alcúdia, Pollensa and Felanitx, but none has yet acquired the 20,000 residents to permit this. So they are stuck with 17.

Town halls, again depending on the size of the population, are obliged to assume responsibility for a range of minimum services. All of them have to look after basic services, such as refuse collection and street maintenance, and only as the number of people increases do these minimum services also increase.

Councillors' jobs do not, however, correspond with these services. For starters, there are councillors who have no responsibilities as such, as they are members of the opposition. Broad responsibilities are often combined and given to one councillor, while there are plenty of "jobs" that are not included in the list of minimum services. Oddly enough, I can find no reference to police in this list, yet this is a town hall service (where it applies) that falls directly under the mayor.

The system of local government is still evolving. Until relatively recently, the precise role of town halls was not that well defined within what is a four-tier scheme of central and regional government, insular government (in the case of the Council of Mallorca) and the municipalities. But a progressive system of decentralisation has granted the town halls increased responsibilities and autonomy; all part of a political philosophy to bring democracy as close as possible to the people.

The philosophy is laudable, but it has not been and still is not without its problems. One is to do with financing. The divvying up of public money has tended to prioritise regional governments even to the extent of denying central government, while local government has been the poor relation, despite assuming more responsibilities. A second is that the philosophy has not been put into practice. Only now is "citizen participation", be it through neighbourhood associations or public consultations, really starting to catch on. Certain councillors have had the responsibility added to their portfolios.

A third problem is a structural one: the sheer abundance of local authorities. This structure brings with it potential inefficiency. The populations of a half of Mallorca's municipalities are under 5,000. It has been argued, with good reason, that expecting them to be efficient is unrealistic. The call has gone out, therefore, for mergers or to at least share services. One academic study reckons that spending needs for a town of 1,000 people is 23% higher (relatively, I assume this means) than one for 5,000 people. Merger, and you don't have to be an economist to figure this out, would achieve some economies of scale.

Public spending bodies have been making similar calls to those coming from academia. The Sindicatura de Cuentas (like the Audit Commission) argues that there has to be a rationalisation of resources. The calls are not falling on deaf ears, as local politicians understand there are difficulties with the current system, but the president of the Balearics' local authorities federation maintains that the system is the best. There again, he probably would; he's also the mayor of Puigpunyent which has only around 2,000 residents.

The fourth problem, and this brings us back to the increasing numbers of councillors, has to do with these councillors themselves and issues of professionalism, qualification and the old-boys (and girls) network. One of the greatest drawbacks with localism, especially in Mallorca where everyone seems to be related to everyone else, is that of nepotism. In itself, it probably isn't often viewed as being questionable or corrupt; just how it is. But with increased responsibilities come other ones, those of transparency and ethical behaviour.

The old-boys network is such that creating new councillors can simply mean adding more jobs for the boys, while the network is also at play even between different political parties. Most of the local politicians will have grown up with each other. Political differences don't count for much when favours can still be granted. And grants are a further facet of the network. The same academic study which pointed to that 23% higher spend also considered what can happen with grants that are made to municipalities from higher levels of government. They can go to subsidising things that are not priorities or needed. And you therefore end up wondering who actually benefits and to whom the grants go.

For all its failings though, the system of local government has much to be said for it in terms of community and identity. Rationalisation would undoubtedly make sense, but just think for a moment about how passions can rise in England when boundaries are changed, new counties formed. The system is still evolving. It may be that rationalisation has to occur, but for the time being the number of councillors will increase. Whether they are needed though; well, that's another matter.


Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.