Álvaro Grau proposes eliminating 10 municipal fees and taxes in Asunción, including charges for street sweeping and park maintenance. The council member from the Partido Patria Querida (PPQ), who is seeking reelection, says the services do not reach every neighborhood and argues that the taxes should be reviewed. The proposal still requires municipal consideration and approval.
Grau also wants to abolish taxes on construction in the capital’s downtown area to encourage people to live there. For sidewalks, he proposes that the municipality standardize and carry out the work, then charge property owners over 10 to 15 years. On park safety, he mentioned a pilot project with emergency buttons and fencing around playgrounds.
On traffic, the council member argued for removing traffic lights and speed bumps he considers unnecessary and creating safe corridors, with traffic officers stationed outside schools. He also criticized the installation of traffic lights that, he says, are not connected and cost US$5 million. The claim of irregularities in the contract was not independently corroborated by documentation in the material available.
Grau also put forward proposals to reduce personnel costs and expand municipal oversight. He said the municipality has about 9,000 employees and could operate with fewer than half that number, and cited US$121 million in salary costs last year, compared with US$7 million for public works. These figures and his assessment that some employees do not work were presented by the council member and were not independently confirmed in the information available.
To tackle what he calls “planilleros”—employees paid without actually performing their duties—he suggested not renewing contracts he considers unnecessary and using facial recognition to verify employees’ attendance. He also proposed a platform called “Where’s Your Money?” to detail investment by neighborhood, property and property tax.
Grau credited himself with playing a decisive role in the fall of the administration of former Mayor Óscar Rodríguez, known as Nenecho, and said his allegations helped block Parxin’s paid parking system. Regarding the G. 500 billion allocated for public works, he said it is still unclear what happened to the funds; Rodríguez maintained that the money was used to pay salaries. The council member’s statements are part of his election campaign, and his allegations and proposals are not judicial findings or decisions that have already been approved.