Quito’s security fee will be charged according to the basic salary

From 2022 a new mechanism will govern to calculate the citizen security rate, which the Municipality of Quito collects from citizens each year along with the property tax.

The reform was approved by the Metropolitan Council on December 14, after the Constitutional Court (CC) declared the ordinance unconstitutional, on September 22. In the sentence, the Municipality was given a period of six months to replace the norm.

Now, according to the ordinance, the security rate will be calculated according to the physical location of the properties in urban and rural areas, within the nine economic sectors into which the Metropolitan District is divided. These are classified according to: land, average price per square meter, topology, basic infrastructure, type of finishes (luxury, very good, good, cheap), roads, water, sewage, electricity, telephone, construction typology of the property, unit prices.

Homes in sector one (S1) will pay more. They are in the ‘high-high’ category, because they have luxury finishes, roads, water, sewage, and electrical power. On the other hand, sector nine (S9) is within the group of ‘low-low’, where the properties have simpler characteristics, have water service in tanker and scarce sewage.

The rates charged by the mayor’s office are obtained from a percentage of the basic unified salary (SBU) assigned to each sector. The rural area is considered part of the S9:

For the payment that corresponds in 2022, the basic salary of 2021 will be taken into account, valued at $ 400, explained councilor Eduardo del Pozo, president of the Budget Commission, who carried out the development of the replacement ordinance.

He clarified that the items will be established based on the minimum remuneration of the year prior to collection. For example, in 2023 the rate will start at $ 425 of the basic salary in 2022.

There are exceptions. The norm excludes from the obligation older adults and people with disabilities, or their substitutes. If they own more than one property, the exemption will apply to the property with the highest cadastral value.

The resources collected will be administered by the Metropolitan Public Company of Logistics for Safety and Citizen Coexistence (Emseguridad).

According to data collected in the draft ordinance, between 2011 and 2021 the Municipality has collected approximately $ 82 million for the security fee; it’s an average of $ 7 million each year.

Del Pozo pointed out that one of the drawbacks was that the money was used mainly for risk management, without fully covering aspects related to crime prevention and reduction.

Starting next year, the mayor explained, Emseguridad must distribute the income for the implementation of the Citizen Security Plan which, among other things, contemplates the possibility of equipping national and metropolitan police officers with equipment and vehicles, or adapting infrastructure and services in public spaces.

Councilor Fernando Morales recalled that one of the observations of the Constitutional Court was that the service provided should be justified against the amount charged.

He stressed that the new regulations allow transparency, clarity and order of municipal management. He stressed that the results of the investments made for the protection of the population will be measured. In that sense, Morales said that the Cabildo and the central government must articulate actions to confront crime.

The ordinance establishes that the Secretary of Security, in coordination with Emseguridad, are the entities in charge of monitoring and evaluating citizen satisfaction regarding the services effectively performed by the security tax.

The results report will be made known to the Metropolitan Council and will be disseminated to the public. (I)