icod de los vinos lifeguard debt beach san marcos

Icod de los Vinos owes over £85k to beach lifeguards

Council owes more than €100,000 for beach safety

The Icod de los Vinos town hall is two years behind on payments to the company that provides lifeguard services at Playa de San Marcos. The coastal safety service has been in operation since 2020, but the head of the firm, Eladio Díaz Rodríguez, has announced they will stop carrying out this work on 1 July due to the council’s failure to pay.

“There’s no way they’ll pay us an invoice. It’s been two years,” he says in despair. He explains that, following the controversy over the state of this strategic stretch of coastline between the ruling group (AI-PSOE) and Coalición Canaria, now in opposition, it is the right moment to make the situation public. The debt amounts to more than €100,000, spread across over 15 invoices which the council is legally obliged to pay following a final court ruling. The municipal government confirms the debt and says it hopes to reach an out-of-court agreement to settle it.

Council blames previous administration

The ruling group traces the problem back to the beginning of the service provision in the previous term, when CC was in power. It claims that work began under precarious contractual arrangements. Eladio Díaz acknowledges that under the nationalist administration there were also late payments, but says that “after the final court ruling, the invoices were paid.”

The company director insists that the firm providing the lifeguard service is in an extreme financial situation. “It’s unsustainable. We are already in debt and are starting to pay interest because of the Icod de los Vinos council’s non-payment.” He is surprised that the mayor, Javier Sierra, “boasts about having money for the beach renovation, for parties or other matters. Meanwhile, he doesn’t pay us a single invoice,” he claims.

Communication breakdown and legal warnings

Communication with the municipal administration is also poor. “We sent a letter to Sierra, also by email, but he hasn’t even replied. If we speak to the responsible councillor, he assures us they are working on resolving the situation,” he describes. The lifeguard service has not stopped operating for a single day despite the non-payment. “We have prevented some very serious situations at Playa de San Marcos, which are recorded in our daily reports,” the director boasts. He adds that they are also waiting for the tender for this work “to regularise everything and work with all the proper guarantees.”

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