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Delegates approved a bill in its first debate Thursday to increase funding for the city’s police force by collecting traffic fines.
Legislative document No. 23,356, approved by 41 members of Congress, will amend Section 234 (d) of the Public Land Road Traffic and Road Safety Act.
Currently, the law states that each municipality will receive 70 percent of the fines imposed by the state’s traffic inspectors.
That would rise to 95 percent after changes authorized by lawmakers. The money is supposed to go toward capital investments to make roads safer and to fund municipal traffic wardens and police programs.
The initiative was proposed by National Liberation Party (PLN) representative Gilbert Jiménez.
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Although the original version of the project did not propose it, the version that was finally approved exempts these resources from taxation, both VAT and income.
Moreover, these resources for strengthening municipal police are not subject to the application of fiscal rules that limit public spending when countries face a public debt exceeding 60% of gross domestic product (GDP).
Explaining the rationale for the project, Deputy Gilbert Jiménez warned that between 2015 and 2021, the Road Safety Commission (Cosevi), the entity that collects traffic fines, had a growing free surplus, 30% of which corresponded to the resources received from traffic fines issued by municipal inspectors.
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Jimenez argued that the legal initiative was proposed “taking into account the needs, budgetary constraints and importance of the city police.”
Under the project, at least 34 states have their own municipal police forces and traffic wardens schemes.
The liberationist said the lack of economic resources meant that most states lagged behind in the development of municipal police forces and only local governments with more commercial activity in their territories and larger budgets were able to develop their police forces.
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Jiménez believes this creates disparities between municipalities, but it also means a lack of attention to the insecurity faced by many states in Costa Rica, which suffer from mafia attacks, organized crime and other types of insecurity.
“It is clear that security in the states is strengthened thanks to the presence of these police units, working hand in hand with the public forces, the Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ), the health sector and other institutions,” said the former mayor of Desamparados.
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