The Girona City Council has launched an extraordinary procedure to review the waste tax after detecting failures in the new control system linked to the citizen card. The measure responds to the increase in claims from residents who have seen their bill increase or have lost the bonus for habitual use.
The local administration confirms that 225 review requests have been registered in just three weeks since the full implementation of the mechanism. This volume of requests has forced the reinforcement of the Climate Action department's staff to manage incidents more quickly.
The mayor responds to neighborhood unrest
Tension has grown on social networks where numerous users denounce a price increase of the fee compared to the previous year. The mayor of the city, Lluc Salellas, has intervened directly to respond to some of these complaints and clarify the functioning of the new regulation.
The conflict centers on the requirement to prove a minimum of 24 uses of the container per semester to be eligible for the bonus. Vivas housing does not meet this threshold and loses the automatic discount, which results in a higher final fee.
The council maintains a strict stance on data validation. Reviews only proceed if the citizen provides convincing evidence. Justifications based on temporary absences are not accepted if water consumption records indicate activity in the dwelling during that same period.
"Cases without a card associated with the dwelling are not validated, nor are absences justified if water consumption is recorded" - Lluc Salellas, mayor of Girona
This requirement excludes from the bonus those taxpayers who have not correctly linked their identifier to their address or whose recycling habits do not reach the minimum frequency established by the ordinance.
More than 35,000 homes under the new system
The municipal register of the waste tax covers a total of 47,727 homes with a domestic rate. Of this group, 35,550 properties already have the variable fee applied, which depends on the usual use of the collection system.
The processing of any incident or review request is carried out exclusively through the electronic headquarters of the city council. Users must enter their waste card number to access the file and verify the status of their bonus.