A Peronist mayor pays salaries with food after squandering 3,490 alcoholic beverages

funds.

Added to this situation is a key aggravating factor: in the last few hours, the municipality's accounts were seized for $15,110,802.85 due to pending lawsuits from previous efforts, when the Radical Civic Union governed.

This ended up blocking the flow of funds and deepened the crisis. With no financial margin, the administration was forced to resort to alternative payment mechanisms

The municipality of Sauce de Luna, in Entre Ríos, exposes an extreme case of fiscal mismanagement in local management.

The Peronist mayor Alcides Alderete granted wage increases of up to 300% without financial support, while the administration spent funds on the purchase of 3,490 alcoholic beverages for a party that never took place, in a context in which it generates only 13% of its resources.

With almost non-existent self-collection and a strong dependence on national and provincial funds, the outcome was predictable: now you will have to pay part of your municipal salaries with food tickets. The measure was confirmed by the community chief himself, who explained that an additional amount of between $30,000 and $50,000 will be replaced by a food voucher

that can be used in local businesses.

Far from assuming management errors, Alderete attributed the crisis to a fall in partnership. However, the government of Entre Ríos denied that there is a generalized situation and stressed that the municipality never requested financial assistance. Officials close to Governor Rogelio Frigerio described the episode as isolated and noted that the rest of the local administrations are keeping their accounts in order

.

The numbers reflect the underlying problem. In the first quarter of the year alone, the municipality received an average of about $190 million per month in transfers, while local revenue is minimal. The mayor himself acknowledged that 94% of the inhabitants do not pay municipal taxes, leaving the commune without genuine resources and completely dependent on external

.

At the same time, expenses that were difficult to justify in the current context transcended, such as the massive purchase of alcoholic beverages for an event that never took place “because of rain”. This type of decision reinforces the image of unplanned management, which expanded unsupported spending and ended up compromising the basic functioning of the municipality

.

Alderete, which governs a town of just 3,300 inhabitants, argued that the lack of private activity limits income generation. However, far from adjusting spending to that reality, it chose to increase salaries sharply, which ended up overwhelming local finances

.

In contrast, while the national government is moving forward with a policy of adjusting public spending and fiscal order, cases such as Sauce de Luna show how some municipal administrations persist in waste and disorder, replicating formulas that only lead to failure.