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San Martin del Tesorillo becomes the eighth municipality of the region. Its citizens finally have independence from Jimena de La Frontera Municipality.
Independence has come to San Martin del Tesorillo. It is not a question of waving a flag or a whim, it is an aspiration of those who have been fighting for almost twenty years to become a municipality on their own merits, and now they have done it at last.
This beautiful town has finally managed to separate from Jimena de La Frontera and becomes the eighth municipality of the Campo de Gibraltar, the number 45 in Cadiz and 786th in Andalusia. On 2nd October 2018 the Regional Government of Andalusia approved the creation of eight new municipalities. In Cadiz, San Martin del Tesorillo and its population have benefited by this decision, so it will cease to be an Autonomous Local Entity (ALE) and will no longer depend on Jimena del La Frontera.
Its inhabitants, all 2,662 according to the National Institute of Statistics, feel over the moon asthey have nothing in common with the parent municipality.
The “Tesorilleros” (people from San Martín del Tesorillo) are friendly and outgoing people who do not identify themselves with the Rural Environment of Jimena de La Frontera, from which they are separated by a winding 23.8 kilometre road. “It´s not that we are better or worse, we´re different. We depend on some agricultural lands and also the service sector of Sotogrande and Costa de Sol. Jimena lives off its rural environment, which we don´t have that much to do with”, explains Autonomous Local Entity (ALE), President Jesus Fernandez.
In addition to feeling different, they believe segregation will bring them important financial benefits, and the feeling is that they have been treated unfairly by their parent municipality. The most frequent comment heard among the “Tesorilleros” is “all of the money stays in Jimena”.
Being able to manage their own budget in order to make improvements within their municipality and having their own Local Police Service have had a lot of weight in this long fight. The Autonomous Local Entity (ALE) president faces this new challenge in all of its reality. A temporary committee must now be set up, until next May, when municipal elections will be held.
There will no longer be a ballot box to elect Jimena representatives and another for the Autonomous Local Entity (ALE) presidency. On 26th May the 14,000 voters of San Martin de Tesorillo will make history by electing their very own municipal representatives, in fact it will change from the 5 political posts of the Autonomous Local Entity (ALE) to a 14-member Municipal Committee.
The segregation will mean that they can implement their own budget and will not have to follow the parent municipality one, which it has provided until now, 550,000 Euros per year. Jesus Fernandezestimates that with the independence, the forecasted budget for San Martin de Tesorillo will almost triple to 1.4 million Euros.
While waiting for that moment to arrive, the “Tesorilleros” enjoy the magical sensation of having achieved their dream, now they are able to make their own destiny as a municipality.
