The creation of an independent entity to manage the municipal cemetery was introduced today in the deliberative council, and will be voted on before the end of the month. The initiative aims to remove bureaucracy from the operation of Campo Santo, develop plans for restoration and improvement works and create a registration system for cellars and outlets that are managed with their own budget.
The project presented by the Julio Alac administration was presented to the council in a plenary session of the Finance and Legislation Committees by the Municipal Secretary General, Norberto Gómez, who presented the details to members of the ruling party and opposition councils.
Photo: Nikola Brakovic
Representatives of the different groups conducted consultations and made amendments to the original text, preparing the majority opinion that was signed by the Union por la Patria (UP), the UCR, the Asap Nueva Generación, and the PRO-JxC. The only bloc that did not sign was the La Libertad Avanza (LLA) bloc. Overall, the ruling party got a number for its district penalty on the tables, although the voting date is expected to be November 27, coinciding with the 2026 budget and the fiscal decree on taxes, the urban planning law reform and the new public transportation document.
The management of the local cemetery currently depends on the Municipal Secretariat, and as the mayor denounced at the beginning of his administration, there is a significant deterioration in infrastructure, organization and management, as evidenced by the discovery in February of last year of the unburied skeletal remains of more than 12,000 people, which led to the construction of a new cemetery.
But in addition, officials warned during their presentation of the need to build new sidewalks, add lighting, restore basements and niches, and solve the problems of building abandonment affecting the perimeter wall, flooding and other nuisances. In addition, there is an “urgent” requirement to re-register the use of lockers and outlets, and to digitize and organize its information system for collecting fees for services provided by the institution.
In his presentation to the Finance and Legislation Committees in deliberations, Gomez explained that the decentralization of the Campo Santo process was due to the need to eliminate bureaucracy in its administration, develop a recovery business plan and modernize the registry and its services for collecting cemetery fees.
New entity
The project consists of creating a “Cemetery Authority” of a decentralized and independent nature, within the scope of the executive administration and which will be headed by a president and a vice president, upon a proposal from the mayor and approval by the council. Its tasks will be the direct management of the property, its operation, maintenance, development and modernization.
The resources you will manage will arise from fees, cemetery rights, ancillary service exploitation fees, fines, surcharges and expenses, as well as allocations or contributions made by the municipality or funds derived from agreements and appropriations.
In the draft municipal budget for 2026, P665 million is expected to be allocated for the operation of the site.
The legislative blocs introduced amendments during the body’s plenary session today. Radical requested that the framework of regional legislation for the care and preservation of historical heritage be included in the articles, which was included in the final text.
At the same time, PRO-JxC requested to add to the entity’s functions those related to the promotion of tourism. The LLA requested the full absorption of the region’s workers and that the efforts of the organization’s president and his deputy coincide with those of the acting mayor.
As confirmed today to EL DIA by the Chairman of the Finance Committee, Micaela Maggio, at the end of the meeting, the file was approved by majority and will be voted on in the Chamber on 27 November. When defending the project, he said: “It is a political decision for the mayor to care about something as basic as restoring dignified burials for our neighbors. We celebrate it.”
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