Marbella building licence income down by 60 per cent

The 17 million euros collected for these licences and construction work in 2002 is now down to 7.1 million

The tricky town planning situation in Marbella, where there is, as yet, no new master town plan and control over this area of town life is being removed from the council by the Andalusian Government (to take effect before next summer), may well be making a big difference to the municipal coffers. In 2005 the income from building licences and the construction work tax (Icio), one of the main sources of revenue for the local council, dropped by 60 per cent compared with 2002. The entity responsible for collecting this revenue, the Provincial Government’s Tax Collection Board, estimates that, compared with three years ago, ten million euros less will be collected for 2005.

A total of 851,000 euros is due from planning permission, of which 98 per cent has already been collected, and 6.3 million euros from the construction and building work tax, compared with 1.2 million and eight million respectively in 2004, and over 17 million from the two taxes three years ago.

Juan Jiménez, the manager of the board, attributes this trend to the present complications in the town planning situation. Nevertheless he believes that the council’s total income from all taxes for 2005 will be between 88 and 90 million euros.

Earlier this week the sum collected had reached 81 million, of which 72 per cent came from council tax.