Four councilors and Puerto Vallarta’s municipal síndico have formed an independent bloc, breaking with Mayor Luis Ernesto Munguía González’s council group as he pursues an advance on the city’s 2027 revenue.
Urrutia Comunica reported the split Wednesday, naming Councilor Víctor Manuel Bernal Vargas as the bloc’s leader. Councilors María Magdalena Urbina Martínez, Christian Omar Bravo Carbajal and Marcia Raquel Bañuelos Macías joined him, along with Síndico José Francisco Sánchez Peña. The outlet said City Hall received their written notice Wednesday. The five members’ positions on the advance are still unclear.
The proposal would bring forward part of the city’s participaciones, its share of tax revenue distributed through government transfers. That could ease the cash pressure at City Hall now and leave less coming in later. If the advance comes to a vote, the terms should show how much the city would receive, what bills it would pay and how later transfers would be affected. The vote would also show whether the five members are prepared to act together on spending.
Trash trucks and missed routes
Public Services Director Rodolfo Domínguez Monroy said that trash collection should return to normal this week. He said 26 of the city’s 35 trucks were available, cited breakdowns, and said an earlier diesel shortage had been resolved.
Last Thursday, neighbors called 911 over smoke after uncollected trash was burned at Cartagena and Federalismo in Lomas del Coapinole. Vallarta Daily had already reported five days without collection near Brasil and Honduras in 5 de Diciembre. In Puerto Las Peñas, on Ramblases, neighbors told GlobalMedia a truck showed up after they took an earlier complaint to the press. By last Thursday, they said they’d gone four days without a truck again. The date to watch on those streets is the next regular pickup after crews clear the backlog.
Contractors are due about 23 million pesos
Public Works Director José Andrés Abundis Méndez said Friday that the city owed contractors about MXN 23 million for work already done, holding up at least five street projects. He said the city hoped to pay this week and finish the projects by year’s end. Payment dates and a list of the affected blocks would show which jobs can move again.
On 5 de Febrero in Emiliano Zapata, work began in March and the first block, between Ignacio L. Vallarta and Constitución, was still unfinished in September. Near Parque Hidalgo, water and sewer crews returned to Jesús Langarica and Paraguay last week. Abundis put the remaining work on Jesús Langarica at seven weeks, which would take it close to the end of December.
The city’s separate pothole program is also waiting on money to buy materials, Abundis told Vallarta Hoy last week. He planned to put four crews to work, starting with Avenida México, Politécnico Nacional, 20 de Noviembre, Francisco Medina Ascencio and Francisco Villa.
Avenida México is first on the sewer list
SEAPAL says it will use its own funds to clear 6.2 kilometers of the Centro–Norte sewer line after repeated spills in Versalles and Díaz Ordaz. Operations director Alejandro Padilla said that buildup blocks up to 80% of the pipe in some spots. Crews plan to start with Avenida México, using cameras to inspect the line and mechanical equipment to pull out the buildup.
The utility had pledged to clear parts of the line at an October meeting with Versalles neighbors. At Friday’s follow-up, SEAPAL director Carlos Ruiz said work could start in about two weeks and take roughly seven months. Munguía pledged to address the spills before the next rainy season. Ruiz’s estimate puts the start in the second half of November. He said he still had to settle the date with the utility’s finance and operations teams.
