Tax advisor Mario Bravo has been secretary-administrator of the AUUM (Asociación de urbanizaciones de Mijas), the association that represents many of the residential estates in the municipality of Mijas, since 2007. He works with the association’s president Karin Hansen and the communities of property owners.

When was the AUUM established and which areas of Mijas does it represent?

The association was created on 2nd September 1999 by Spaniards and foreigners who were living on residential estates in Mijas and wanted the Town Hall to render the services requested by law. They called the first public meeting on 29th September 1999, and the following ‘urbanizaciones’ joined: Torrenueva, Rosa de Piedra, Cerros del Águila, Lew Hoad, Peña Blanquilla, Mijas Golf, Finca Ana María, La Lubina, La Butiplaya, Las Farolas, Juncal Sur, Marina del Sol, Riviera del Sol, El Chaparral, Los Claveles, La Alquería, Mijas la Nueva, Sitio de Calahonda, Valtocado, Santa Rosa, Rancho de la Luz, La Bouganvilla and Doña Pilar. Others joined later, such as Lagarejo, Hornillo, Campomijas and Sierrezuela. Although many of our residents are not registered in the Town Hall, in reality we represent about the half of the population of Mijas.

What are the objectives of the AUUM?

Our main target is to obtain the services that we are already paying for, which is exactly what the law says we are entitled to. If you tell anyone that half of the population in Mijas has to pay for the electricity for the street lights, they can’t believe it. At the same time, we have to clean our roads, pay for the asphalt, sewage, pavements, etc. If we want a little bit of security, we have to pay for our own guards, and in many cases the supplies of water and electricity are very weak. I must say that our developments are completely legal, that is, with all the licences from the Town Hall, having paid all kinds of fees. What’s more we pay three times the standard garbage collection rates, but the garbage is collected about three times a week, instead of six in other places. We also have to take care of any public green areas, as the Town Hall will only invest their funds in the areas that they consider urban (Mijas Pueblo, Las Lagunas and La Cala). Any other garden that you see outside those three areas is maintained with money from the owners, who of course also pay their rates, and you can bet that they are very high.

What does your work involve?

Our task is to get these services rendered by the Town Hall, not for free, but in exchange for the fees we already pay. At present, we are concentrating our efforts on electricity. We had a meeting with the Mayor last June, and he promised another meeting within three to four months. Nothing has happened since. We also deal with the electricity and telephone companies directly, trying to get them to provide a better service and to undertake the lines. We fight with the billboard companies; most of the signs do not have a building licence and are illegal, and we also collect signatures asking for improvements in the health service in the area, or try to help with the sewage service, trying to make sure the waste does not to reach the beaches.

You are keen to see more foreigners join the municipal population census. How many foreign residents in Mijas do you think are not registered?

Mijas Town Hall has not worked too hard trying to register all the population in Mijas; only recently we have reached the same number of inhabitants as Fuengirola, whose area is 1/15 of Mijas. According to the official records of the Town Hall, the population is about 75,000, but if you consider our consumption of water, electricity or petrol, you can conclude that there are about 150,000 of us in winter, and possibly around 250,000 in July and August.

You are also campaigning for more foreign residents to register to vote...

About two thirds of the foreigners are British, and we could say that around 90% of all foreigners are members of the EU, so in theory most of them could vote in municipal and EU elections. The official figures say that on 1st January 2007 there were 18,565 foreigners registered at the Town Hall (empadronados), but only 1,730 of them had expressed their wish to vote in Spain. This means that 16,835 foreigners live here permanently, have registered at the Town Hall, the Town Hall receives grants from the government because of them, but their opinion will not count. Remove 10% for those below 18 years of age, and another 10% for those of countries outside the EU, you will have 13,500 people. Considering that the total number of votes in Mijas in 2007 was 18,000, it is obvious that the elections do not reflect the desire of the majority of the residents. This is not a major concern in the AUUM, but we believe that democracy must be based on the opinions of all who contribute to the system.

How could the numbers be increased?

When they first go to the Town Hall to be registered (empadronarse), foreigners should be asked whether they want to vote here or not. They can only reply if someone asks them. This is not happening, so they don’t express their intention to vote in Spain, and they don’t appear in the polling lists. There is a second way, which is to reply to a letter that the government of Spain, through the Institute of Statistics (INE) sent them in September 2008. But most of those letters did not reach their destination, as addresses are being registered in a very strange way. And of course, the quality of the postal service in the area does not help at all. So, another task for the AUUM is to get the Town Hall to put names on the streets (believe it or not, in many cases it was up to the residents to name the streets and many are repeated), and also to number the streets, which now keep the original number of the plot, which makes the post difficult to deliver.