Lights Out

Though paling beside last December's near simultaneous patricide, discovery of a hidden camera in the ladies' washroom of a local pub and arrest of a pedophile, outstanding among recent events in the town in which the writer resides in eastern Andalucía has been the electrical company's decision to cut off the power to the local theatre, football pitch and swimming pool - all this, as one might expect, owing to a failure to pay a long series of light bills on the part of the municipality. In fact as far as we can tell, the only non-essential service in Cazorla left untouched by Endesa is the town hall itself.

The town's official debt, according to the Banco de España, is (as of December 31st), 5.64 million euros. Per each of its 8,133 official inhabitants this rounds out to a bit over 690 euros. The neighbouring town of La Iruela (all of 500 metres up the road and in which the scribe is actually registered as living, if one were still yet to doubt the utility of Spanish statistics) has 1,985 residents, each of whom owes 606 euros.

It should come as no surprise then  that the present farmer, already considerably impoverished by olive oil prices not seen for at least twenty years, recently received from this latter lot a special tax assessment of 2,500 euros to pay (presumably, but not probably) for repairs to a dirt road which he does not use to get to his properties - on the grounds that he actually does.

Spain has approximately 8,100 distinct municipalities, many as inane as the two mentioned here.

Trevor offers a similar tale, but for all of Cataluña, here.

The sobering BE municipal debt spreadsheet can be found here.

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