Amid a busy first week for new Guadalajara mayor Enrique Alfaro came the disconcerting news that the municipality is effectively bankrupt.
With only 25 million pesos in the bank, city hall has outstanding commitments for the reminder of the year totaling 674 million pesos, Alfaro announced this week.
Rather than seek a loan to cover the outgoings, Alfaro said he would look at other ways to obtain the money, even foregoing his own – and his cabinet’s – salaries if necessary.
Guadalajara has long- and short-term debts of around three billion pesos, among the highest of any municipality in Mexico. Alfaro made a campaign pledge to balance the books and not run up any more debt.
The mayor said the bare kitty raises doubts about the honesty of the previous administration. Former officials suspected of any pilfering will face justice, he stressed.
Alfaro assured municipal employees that their salaries will be paid on time but said reducing city hall’s payroll is one of his priorities.
Opposition councilor Alfonso Petersen, who ran against Alfaro in June, accused the new mayor of dramatizing the situation, claiming that he knew fully of the financial shortfall during the campaign and even mentioned it in his speeches.
Also in his first week, Alfaro has been obliged to deal with the thorny issue of the new Corona Market, a project inherited from the previous administration.
Market vendors will have to wait until next year to take occupancy in the new space. Alfaro said it would be imprudent to get the market up and running while work continued on sidewalks and other infrastructure. He also promised to review the 800-plus vendor concessions handed out by the previous administration.