Estepona to invest more per person than all other councils in Malaga province

Another interesting figure is that 16 in every 100 euros in Estepona's annual income, mostly coming through taxes, goes to investment in the municipality, says the town hall.

Debt reduction

According to the budget plans, the council's debt will also go down faster than expected. A key aim of the current council is to reduce the money the town hall owes from the 300 million euros debt it "inherited" when it took over.

The target reduction was originally 25 million euros a year, but now town hall bosses think the debt repayments can be increased and reach between 27 and 35 million euros a year. At the end of 2018 the debt had already been reduced to 150 million euros.

The councillor for Finance at the town hall, Manuel Águila, has said that the debt with the tax authorities, the regional government, the provincial authority and private companies providing council services, which had stood at 39 million euros, has now been completely paid off. He added that the council has also settled the so-called 33 million euros of "invoices in drawers" that was "found" in June 2011.

Opposition councillors have asked for an independent audit of the debt to prove its origin and "which political party really generated it".