Social emergencies funding multiplied as coronavirus lockdown hits Calvia household incomes in Spain’s Mallorca

CALVIA Council has multiplied by five, funding for social emergencies in the face of the coronavirus crisis.
More than €1 million has now been allocated to this section of the local authority budget to cover the basic needs of the municipality’s most vulnerable households.
To be precise, an additional €829,884 has been added to the original sum of €200,000.
The extra ‘Covid-19 Assistance’ cash includes a contribution of just short of €200,000 from the government of Mallorca via its IMAS Social Affairs Institute for urgent social measures. Another chunk comes from the council’s 2019 budget surplus, which the State government allows local authorities to make immediately available for providing financial assistance and services.
The council said the budget section increase would make it possible to give emergency help to families whose household incomes have been hard hit by the State of Alarm lockdown and the halt on most economic activity.
At the same time, Calvia mayor Alfonso Rodriguez Badal indicated that it might be necessary to increase the budget allocation further as after just three weeks of enforced confinement more than €70,000 had gone towards covering the basic needs of 212 local families.
The administration said its government team is holding regular meetings to look at social support measures on the one hand, and at measures to help the municipal economy and mitigate the effects of the health crisis restrictions.
The first batch of measures already announced include postponing the payment of municipal taxes, reimbursing the tax bars and restaurants pay to occupy public spaces and exemption from the market tax while the State of Alarm remains in force.