Benitatxell sacks its municipal secretary of “for refusing to pay the council’s bills”

In a rather unusual case, the Benitaxell Council has sacked its municipal secretary for refusing to pay the council’s bills authorised by the Local Government Board.

Announced on Monday, May 30, the sacking of Jesús Castro came as he was also accused of hindering the operation of municipal services and in particular, its auditing function.

Castro was suspended in April 2021 after a disciplinary found him guilty of obstructing the operations of the Council and for refusing to obey orders issued by the Local Government Board.

The events date back to October 28, 2020, the day the Local Government Board was held that included the approval of a list of invoices. As there was no record of any objection to the invoices they were approved for payment.

The next day, Castro stated that he had no intention of making the payments ignoring a payment order issued by the Mayor’s Office. Finally, on November 4, he prepared a document with the title ‘Reparos Report’, in which he expressed his disagreement with the approval of those invoices.

Local Treasury Law requires that objections be made prior to the approval of invoices for payment, however, Castro only did this seven days later in the process falling foul of the law.  

He was suspended for six months for ignoring an order or instruction from his superior and dismissed for: “Being a permanent obstacle to the normal functioning of municipal public services, preparing reports (especially objections in its auditing function) outside the ordinary deadlines of good administrative practice, and without justifying or demonstrating the causes of said delays.”

In sacking sacks the municipal secretary for refusing to pay the council’s bills, the Benitaxell council said it regretted having to make the decision but had little choice other than to let him go.

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