Vigo approves €15 million investment boost

Vigo’s city council has now done the part that actually matters — it turned a proposed spending boost into money the city can use. The final approval clears a €15.6 million budget modification funded from municipal surpluses, after an extraordinary plenary session dealt with objections from the opposition. That sounds procedural, but the stakes are simple: more cash for housing, street works, social services, culture and a long list of city projects. ### What did Vigo approve? The council approved two extraordinary credit modifications worth €15.6 million in total. The PSOE government voted them through, while PP and BNG voted against. The package had already been politically announced earlier in the spring, but the final green light is what lets the spending move from plan to execution. ### Where is the money coming from? Basically, Vigo is pulling from remanentes — accumulated treasury surpluses. That is money the city has in reserve rather than fresh tax revenue or new borrowing. The whole argument around this vote turns on that point: the government says the surpluses prove Vigo has room to invest more, while the opposition says the cash pile shows the city has been too slow to spend on urgent needs. ### How is the €15.6 million split? The clearest breakdown is €10.9 million for direct municipal investments and €4.7 million to be folded into the Urban Planning Management office, or Xerencia de Urbanismo. That split matters because it shows this is not one single flagship project. It is a broad top-up for both regular city spending and the planning machinery behind land, buildings and urban works. ### What gets funded first? A lot of the money goes to visible, local things. The package includes around €2 million for adapting properties for rental use, €1.17 million for home care service, about €1 million for the Esturáns building and another €1 million for expropriations tied to the city plan. It also includes smaller but politically noticeable items like €300,000 for a statue of Iago Aspas and funding for a Julio Verne exhibition. ### Which public works are in the mix? The city is also pushing more “humanización” projects — Vigo’s catch-all term for street redesigns, accessibility upgrades and public-space improvements. The list includes works or top-ups tied to Lepanto, Serafín Avendaño, Pablo Iglesias, Pintor reinforcing projects already underway. ### Why did the opposition fight it? PP and BNG did not just vote no — they argued the city should have gone much bigger and aimed the money differently. PP proposed lifting the modification to €64.5 million, with €60 million focused on a municipal housing plan. BNG filed a huge package of amendments plus somewhere else, and spend more of it.” ### So why is this a big deal for Vigo? Because it adds muscle to a city budget that was already unusually investment-heavy. Vigo’s 2026 budget was initially set at roughly €350.8 million, with €116 million earmarked for investment before this extra boost. In other words, the council is not patching a hole here — it is expanding an already ambitious capital-spending plan with surplus cash. ### Bottom line? The final vote means Vigo now has €15.6 million more to actually deploy, not just debate. But the political fight is still the same one — whether Abel Caballero’s government is proving financial strength, or just sitting on too much cash before spending it.