Council of Majorca raises charge for incineration by 11pc

The Council of Majorca has approved an 11 per cent increase in the charge for incinerating rubbish. It was the second time it had tried to do this, as the first time the motion was presented it was defeated by the opposition. This time, no chances were taken and the start of the meeting was delayed a couple of minutes until all the councillors supporting the motion had arrived. The new charge will be 55.62 euros (9'255 pesetas) per ton, plus IVA. This charge will then be passed on by each town council to householders, according to the amount of rubbish they produce. The conservative Popular Party opposed the increase, saying it was unfair to charge the same for all municipalities, regardless of their distance from the incinerator at Son Reus. The Andratx council has also appealed against the new charges, alleging that not all the rubbish is incinerated. However, Council president Maria Antonia Munar said that the increase was justified and the rates covered all the operations involved. The Council meeting lasted just 15 minutes and the other major decision taken was to increase the fund for repairing damage caused by the storms last November by 250 million pesetas. The initial amount assigned was 891 million pesetas, 500 million of which went to town councils to repair damage to urban amenities. Total aid requested by the municipalities is more than 4'000 million pesetas, a large part of which will be provided by the central government.