Alcudia is the best-run town hall in terms of finances. | Archive

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The Sindicatura de Cuentas de Baleares (SCIB), the public audit office in the Balearics, reports that the three best-run town halls on the islands in terms of their finances are Alcudia, Santa Margalida and Sant Antoni de Portmany (Ibiza).

The SCIB has delivered its latest report on town hall accounts to the Balearic parliament. This is for the 2019 financial year, the town halls ranked according to eighteen indicators. At the top of the ranking, with a score of 6.4 out of ten, is Alcudia. Santa Margalida is second with 6.1 and Sant Antoni third with 5.9.

The next best are Santanyí and Ariany (both with 5.7). Then come two more Ibizan municipalities, Sant Joan de Labritja (5.6) and Sant Josep de Sa Talaia with 5.5. Campos and Selva in Mallorca also score 5.5. On 5.4 are Felanitx, Pollensa, Ibiza and Santa Eulàlia (also Ibiza). The highest ranked Minorcan town hall is Es Mercadal with 5.3, a score it shares with Deya, Manacor and Muro.

At the bottom of the ranking are Banyalbufar (3.6), Buger with 3.9, Sa Pobla and Sant Lluís (Minorca) with 4.0 and Lloseta with 4.1.

Among the various findings, the report states that town halls are "excessively solvent in the short term". They have a solvency indicator of 327.7%, which is "well above the range of reasonableness - 120% to 150%". The total amount is 860.7 million euros, which the report defines as "idle public resources". Town halls in Ibiza are the most idle, with an indicator of 459%. Sa Pobla, with 80.8%, is the only one that does not reach the reasonable solvency level of 120%.

Excessive solvency might sound positive, but the report indicates that revenues aren't being spent. This could well be a reflection of Spanish government budgetary stability requirements that have constrained town hall spending. Alcudia, famously, has the largest cash reserves of all - now close to 100 million euros of accumulated budget surplus.