The plenary session of the Zaragoza Provincial Council approved this Wednesday, January 31, the institution budget for 2026. Accounts that, for the fourth consecutive year, are again the highest in history with a total amount of 256 million euros. The budget has gone ahead with the support of the government team made up of the PSOE, En Común-IU and CHA and the votes against the PP and Vox.
“The accounts that the Government team approved today are accounts useful to strengthen our town councils and public servicesand realistic because they strengthen our towns and our province”, stated the president of the Zaragoza Provincial Council, Juan Antonio Sánchez Quero.
The president stressed that “we have especially taken into account the needs in local infrastructure and services of our local entities and we work for the neighbors who live in our territory.
For her part, the vice president of the Zaragoza Provincial Council, Teresa Ladrero, has highlighted that the budget “is much more than a program and numbers, it contains one of the main functions, which is help support public services“, is to help the municipalities so that they in turn help the neighbors, giving the mayors sufficient autonomy like no other administration.”
The accounts once again revolve around the Unified Subsidy Plan, the PLUSwhich with its 50 million euros absorbs a fifth of the budget and which in 2026 will celebrate ten years since its creation, Ladrero recalled.
Furthermore, and as a notable novelty, include an Agenda 2030 investment plan with another 24.5 million which will also be distributed among all the municipalities of the province with the double objective of continuing to improve the services received by residents of rural areas and promoting compliance with the Sustainable Development Goals most closely linked to municipal powers.
Another novelty of the 2026 budget is that multiplies by five the amount of the plan to combat unwanted lonelinesswhich goes from one to five million euros and will expand its purpose, allowing municipalities to use these funds to finance the operating expenses of municipal bars, social centers and teleclubs, spaces that in many localities are the only meeting place where their inhabitants can meet all year round.
The accounts for 2026 also include an allocation of 4 million euros to install electric car chargers in all municipalities of the province. Last year, the Zaragoza Provincial Council already allocated one million euros to this initiative, hoping to obtain funds from the Government of Spain through the Moves III plan, but it was not possible and for next year it maintains this commitment to the electric car, financing it 100 percent with its own resources, according to Europa Press.
Directly related to the environment is also the item of another 4 million euros that the budget for the future provincial urban waste treatment centerwhich will be built in the area of ​​Zaragoza as the second phase of the Ecoprovince service so that the recycling of garbage from the Zaragoza municipalities does not depend on the CTRUZ of the capital.
In terms of roads, the budget for 2026 allocates different items that in total They total more than 17 million euros for the improvement of the provincial road networka figure that has been reached for the second consecutive year thanks to the 21 works that will begin next year within the 2024-2031 road action program.
Investments
In the investment chapter, the 400,000 euros that the Zaragoza Provincial Council allocates to continue with the restoration of various spaces of the Tarazona cathedral: after rehabilitating the chapel of the Purification and that of Santiago – currently under construction and with an allocation of another 186,000 euros to finish them and to restore the altarpiece of the same name -, they will also intervene in a third chapel of the temple and the organ of the turiasonense seo will be recovered.
Another important action in the field of restoration of the province’s historical heritage is the rehabilitation of the façade, staircase and altarpiece of the abbey palace of Veruela, which has a item of 250,000 euros.
In the chapter of social policies, the most notable novelty of the budget is that it includes an initial allocation of 745,000 euros for implement advanced telecare in the municipalities of the province.
The Zaragoza Provincial Council provides this fundamental service for the elderly and people with disabilities in rural areas and next year it will modernize it by implementing a new system that will not only allow us to control and monitor the users of the service when they are at home, but will also will work when these people are away from their homes. Another notable novelty revolves around democratic memory, since the area’s budget reaches 2,106,000 euros.
Town councils
The 292 municipalities of the province will receive 50 million euros through the Unified Plan from Subsidies-PLUS and another 24.5 million more through the Agenda 2030 plan. Last August, the Ecoprovince service of the DPZ completed two years of recycling garbage from the green container in the 265 municipalities that have joined so far.
He repair of roads and other agricultural infrastructure It is one of the services most in demand by city councils. That is why the 2026 budget allocates items that in total exceed 3.9 million euros.
95% of the town councils in the province have the Zaragoza Provincial Council entrusted with the management and collection of municipal taxes and fees. To provide that service The budget provides for an item of 5.3 million euros which is subsequently passed on to the consistories.
In addition to allocating 5 million euros to expand the plan to combat unwanted loneliness and 745,000 euros as an initial item for the implementation of advanced telecare, the budget for 2026 again reserve 800,000 euros to support the sustainability of nursing homes and the day centers of municipal ownership and direct management.
The accounts also include 200,000 euros to subsidize the social thermalism program to the elderly and disabled people of the province, which in turn will allow us to continue supporting the Zaragoza spas.
In terms of gender equality, 500,000 euros are budgeted for the Equality for All planwhich serves to finance a wide range of awareness-raising activities for city councils, and 150,000 euros for the aid plan for entities that fight against sexist violence.
Regarding the promotion of employment, the accounts include 400,000 euros for the female self-employment planwhich is specifically aimed at women who start their own business in rural areas, financing both investments and expenses.
The main lines of work of the institution in this area are the exhibitions and the rest of the activities in the Sástago palace, the Goya-Fuendetodos Cultural Consortium, the Ejea Art and Exhibitions Center, and the 4º Espacio room, which in total total items worth more than 920,000 euros.