The fire department issued a statement in which it reported that, given its precarious financial situation, will suspend pre-hospital care and social services.
On April 16, the mayor of Popayán, Juan Carlos Muñoz Bravo, committed to the Popayán Volunteer Fire Department, in a meeting with its commander, second lieutenant Francisco José Arboleda Hartmann, that, on April 30 at the latest, that service institution would begin to receive transfers of resources derived from the fire service surcharge, which taxpayers pay for the work carried out in the municipality by said entity; However, that commitment has been breached, because it occurs to the legal advisor that an Agreement is necessary with which there is an obligation to contract with the Fire Department, when it is not required.
Four months have passed in 2024 and it has not been possible for the municipality to transfer the money it collects from taxpayers, so the Fire Department had to resort to its own resources to cover the expenses, but the financial situation is already worrying.
Precisely, in a statement, said community service institution, also respected by it, has seen the need to announce measures that restrict its actions.
In the aforementioned message that bears the signatures of Commander Francisco José Arboleda Hartmann and the president of the Council of Officers, Antonio Duban Hernández Quibano, it says: “After an exhaustive evaluation of our financial situation, we regret to inform that we are forced to suspend until further notice Prehospital Care and social services. This decision is due to the lack of financial resources, derived from the delay in signing the fire service surcharge agreement. This surcharge, vital for our operation, consists of the transfer of resources that citizens have already contributed to the Municipal Mayor’s Office and which, in turn, must be transferred to our institution. The delay in its formalization has left us in a delicate situation.
We understand the community’s concern regarding this news, and we want to reiterate that we have had all the will and have exhausted all avenues to overcome this difficult situation; In public statements made on April 16, the Municipal Mayor’s Office stated that the transfer of the fire service surcharge would be made on the 30th of this month, but this was not the case.
It is important to note that, although we find it necessary to suspend certain services, we will continue to attend to those that are considered essential, such as: Attention to fires, rescues in all their modalities and incidents that involve dangerous materials, until the Ministry of Labor authorizes us. the possible suspension of employment contracts if the situation does not improve.
Starting today, Thursday, May 2, at 11:59 p.m., we will be forced to restrict the attention of ambulances and social services due to the depletion of our own resources. From January 1 to date, the constant exercise of our work has led to the depletion of our reserves of strategic supplies, including the supply of oxygen for ambulances, due to the lack of economic resources.”
Wrong interpretation?
Apparently the interpretation made by the legal advisor of the Municipality of Popayán, Ana Patricia Prado, regarding the agreement with the Volunteer Fire Department, is not accurate.
The fire service surcharge that was regulated in December 2011 by Municipal Agreement and that came into force in January 2012, determines that the contribution is created on the basis of the property tax paid by property owners, a contribution that is scaled according to a table that It was modified in 2016 and then in 2018 in some basic points.
The draft Agreement establishes that the municipality of Popayán creates the firefighting surcharge based on Laws 1575 of 2012 and 322 of 1996 so that people contribute to this parafiscal, in order to sustain and develop firefighting activity. In that same order, the Agreement indicates that sign a resource transfer agreement for the Fire Department to carry out its activities, It is not a service contract, nor a contract by tendersince it is by direct development, because in Popayán there is only one legal entity that develops that service referred to in Law 1575 and there is no official fire department.
According to lawyers consulted by La Campana, the transfer agreement must be integrated into the municipality’s budget with the resources collected from the validity of the respective property tax and, normally, the following year the resources that come in from the expired validity periods are They are transferred and must be conducted by a trust, as established in the municipality after the restructuring of liabilities that was carried out at the beginning of 2000.
In the current situation, with the change of Government and cabinet, the head of the Legal Advisory Office of the municipality, established that a draft Agreement should be developed in which it was established that the mayor would commute the amounts to contract and establish the cases in which which had to be authorized by the Council and which did not, then it expanded the range of contracting with non-profit entities, with inter-administrative agreements, inter-institutional agreements, etc., with new amounts reforming the Agreement that since 2015 establishes what It is what the mayor can and cannot contract based on the same predicaments of the Law.
This draft Agreement, presented by the mayor in the extraordinary sessions, generated many suspicions and doubts in the Popayán Council, so that corporation did not process it and it was withdrawn. The Mayor’s Office once again presented a new draft Agreement, which many have not understood and describe as “strange”, regularizing that the draft Agreement is related to Firefighters; that is, come back and play, since no draft Agreement is required to agree with the Fire Department, because, first, the assignment is there; second, the Agreement is also there and empowers the mayor and, third, the law obliges him. Four months have passed and nothing has happened, because it occurs to the municipality’s legal department that a draft Agreement must be presented, with which it has the obligation to contract with the Fire Department, meanwhile that institution that works without rest, is urgently needed from the fire tax money that taxpayers pay.