The mayor of Marsa is up in arms over the government’s decision to reduce the size of his council by two members and slash its budget by €20,000, saying this does not take the migrants’ open centre into consideration.

Francis Debono and the council’s executive secretary, Adrian Attard, have filed a judicial letter of protest over the matter.

The council has been reduced from seven to five members and its financial allocation by €20,000 to €464,000. The government’s decision was based on a statistical drop in the number of residents in the locality.

But Mr Debono holds that the authorities disregarded the fact that Marsa has an open centre housing mig­rants who use the council’s services.

“This decision does not make sense. The open centre can take up to 500 people and they are using the locality’s services despite not being officially registered as Marsa residents,” he said, describing the decision as “unfair”.

“Our locality has this particular situation and the authorities have completely disregarded it,” Mr Debono said when contacted.

Marsa is due to elect a new council in the April 11 elections.

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