Velez-Malaga Cuts Politicians' Pay to Fund Street Cleaning Velez-Malaga council has voted unanimously to cut politicians' salaries by 15 per cent and channel the savings, more than 400,000 euros, into street cleaning. The town council of Velez-Malaga has voted unanimously to cut the salaries of its politicians by fifteen per cent, and to spend every euro of the savings, more than 400,000 of them, on street cleaning. In a political climate where pay rises for elected officials usually make headlines for the wrong reasons, the decision stands out precisely because nobody voted against it. The measure was approved at an extraordinary plenary meeting this week with the backing of both the governing coalition, formed by the PP and a local party, and the entire opposition, including the Socialists, Vox and the independent councillors. The cut affects full-time councillors from all groups, the allowances of temporary staff, and the maximum amounts that councillors can receive for attending plenary sessions, committees and other official bodies. The mayor, Jesus Maria Claros, made the point bluntly at the press conference before the vote. The reduction will apply to everyone, to the administration and to the opposition alike, he said, because all of them are part of the same council. He was equally direct about his own position: he did not want to present his own waiver as a personal sacrifice, nor to lecture anyone. It was simply, in his words, the right decision to take at this time. The mayor is doing more than trimming his salary. He has formally renounced any remuneration from the town council, retroactive to the day he took office, and he has also announced his intention to resign from the payments attached to his posts at the association of municipalities of the Costa del Sol-Axarquia and the local water company. He had already stepped back in July from the full-time position he held at the town hall when he became a provincial councillor, a post that carried a gross annual salary of just over 80,000 euros. The context matters. In September 2024, the previous bipartisan government in Velez-Malaga approved a twenty-five per cent increase in councillors' salaries, with a seventeen per cent rise for the mayor and thirty per cent for full-time councillors. That decision sat badly with many residents, and the political crisis that followed the new rubbish collection charge eventually brought a change of mayor. The new administration is clearly determined not to be confused with the old one. The money saved will not disappear into the general budget. The stated aim is to channel it directly into street cleaning: new street-washing operations, the purchase of machinery and greater mechanisation of maintenance work on streets and public spaces. The mayor has been honest about the reason behind the choice, admitting that poor street cleaning is one of the most frequent complaints he receives from residents. It is a refreshingly practical bargain: politicians earn less, and the town gets visibly cleaner streets in exchange. The council has not yet published a detailed breakdown of the new remuneration packages or of the savings attached to each item, so the real impact on the cleaning service will only become clear as the new machinery is bought and the new operations begin. For a town of Velez-Malaga's size, the capital of the Axarquia region with more than 80,000 residents, 400,000 euros is serious money in a street-cleaning budget. It buys equipment, it buys washing rounds, and it buys back a bit of the trust that the salary rises of two years ago spent. The measure will be watched closely across the province. Councils in Spain set their own councillors' pay within regional caps, and the debate about what elected officials should earn flares up regularly, usually without resolution. Velez-Malaga has now set a different kind of example: not a commission or a study, but an immediate, unanimous cut, aimed at the service residents complain about most. What happens next will decide whether this was a gesture or a governable policy. If the streets of Velez-Malaga look visibly cleaner by spring, other towns may find the argument hard to resist. If they do not, the politicians of Velez-Malaga will have paid for the lesson out of their own pockets.