Estepona town hall has wiped out the 300 million euros of debt it inherited back in 2011, and it is now putting more than 7 million euros a year back into residents’ pockets through property tax cuts and bin fee reductions. The average IBI bill has fallen 50 percent since 2012, with an extra 3 percent off for anyone who pays by direct debit within the voluntary period, and pensioners and the long-term unemployed no longer pay the rubbish tax at all.
What changed for 2026
The council’s latest measures add up to just over 7 million euros: 6.1 million euros in IBI relief spread across close to 38,000 receipts, and roughly 144,000 euros in bin tax exemptions covering 1,812 households. Anyone who registers for direct debit and pays during the voluntary window gets a further 3 percent knocked off IBI, business activity tax, and the rubbish fee together. Residents who take at least three loads a year to the recycling point (the Punto Limpio) get another 3 percent off their bin tax on top.
None of this is a one-off gesture. IBI has been falling steadily since 2012, and the cumulative reduction now stands at 50 percent on average. For a typical household, that is the difference between an IBI bill of around 723 euros a decade ago and one closer to 556 euros today, before this year’s further relief is even applied.
Who is behind it
The mayor, José María García Urbano, is not a career politician by background. He holds three of Spain’s most demanding legal qualifications, State Attorney, Property Registrar and Notary, and taught law at UNED, the University of Málaga and Universidad Carlos III de Madrid before entering local politics. He first stood for Estepona in May 2011 and won an outright majority.
He has held that majority ever since. In 2015 he was re-elected with 60 percent of the vote, making him the most-voted mayor in Spain among towns over 50,000 residents. In 2019 he improved on that again, taking almost 70 percent of the vote and 21 of the council’s 25 seats. He now also sits on the board of Spain’s national federation of municipalities (FEMP), chairs its local finance committee, and represents Spain on the EU’s Committee of the Regions, roles that track closely with the fiscal discipline behind Estepona’s own numbers.
How the town hall paid off 300 million euros
The debt dates back to 2011, when Estepona took over accounts loaded with roughly 304 million euros in liabilities: unpaid supplier invoices, Social Security arrears, money owed to the tax agency, and financing tied up in municipal companies. García Urbano has described it plainly: the town hall used to work for its creditors, not the other way round.
The fix was unglamorous but consistent. The council closed down its municipal companies early on, which stopped spending happening outside proper budget oversight, and it directed roughly 60,000 euros a day toward the inherited debt, year after year, rather than letting new commitments creep back in. Budget surpluses did the rest: 37.8 million euros in 2023, more than 45 million in 2024, and over 40 million in 2025, backed by more than 90 million euros in reserves. In 2025 the council made a final early repayment of 25.37 million euros, clearing the last of the bank debt and saving roughly 3 million euros in future interest along the way.
By 2026, for the first time, the municipal budget carries no line at all for debt repayment. That is what actually freed up the money now going into tax relief.
What the debt-free budget is funding
Tax cuts are only the most recent line item. The same financial turnaround has paid for “Estepona, Garden of the Costa del Sol,” a long-running project that has remodelled more than 120 streets and squares and turned roughly 50,000 square meters of asphalt into planted, pedestrian space. The old N-340 highway that used to cut through the town centre is now a landscaped boulevard, and a route of around 70 murals, started in 2012, has turned once-neglected backstreets into one of the town’s more photographed corners.
A 23-kilometre coastal path (the Senda Litoral) now links Estepona’s beaches for walking and cycling end to end. That one is mostly a provincial project, funded largely by the Diputación de Málaga, but Estepona’s town hall has co-financed sections of it and been singled out by the province for how fast it moves each stretch forward. The numbers behind the wider transformation are as telling as the streetscape: between 2011 and 2024, the population grew by nearly 12,750 people, unemployment fell from 7,983 to 3,550, and the number of registered businesses rose from 4,479 to 6,602.
Why this matters if you own or are buying here
Every guide to buying in Spain focuses on the costs at completion, transfer tax, notary and registry fees, that first big number. Ours does too, in our piece on what buying really costs in Andalucía. What gets less attention is the tax line that follows you every year afterwards, and that is exactly where Estepona has pulled ahead. A lower, still-falling IBI bill is a real, recurring saving, not a headline that fades once the announcement cycle moves on, and it sits on top of a town that has visibly reinvested in itself for over a decade.
It also sits alongside wider tax changes across the region worth knowing before you commit. We covered the bigger picture in our guide to Andalucía’s 2026 property tax changes, and together the two pieces give a fuller read on what owning here actually costs, this year and beyond.
Debt-free, and still building
The other side of paying off debt is usually cutting back, but Estepona’s 2026 budget runs to 132 million euros with a record 27 million earmarked for investment, on top of tax cuts, not instead of them. Recent projects like the new velodrome, football and rugby complex are part of the same story: a town hall spending on infrastructure and services at the same time as it lowers what residents pay. For anyone weighing up where on the coast to buy, that combination, lower ongoing costs plus continued investment in the town itself, is worth more than either fact on its own.
Vragen die mensen stellen
How much has Estepona’s IBI actually gone down?
The average reduction since 2012 is 50 percent. A typical bill that was around 723 euros a decade ago is closer to 556 euros now, before the extra 3 percent direct debit discount.
How do I qualify for the 3 percent extra IBI discount?
Set up direct debit for your IBI, business activity tax, or rubbish fee, and pay within the official voluntary payment period each year. The discount applies automatically once both conditions are met.
Who gets free bin collection in Estepona?
Retired residents and the long-term unemployed who are registered (empadronados) in Estepona qualify for a full exemption from the rubbish tax. Around 1,812 households currently benefit.
How did Estepona pay off 300 million euros in debt?
Mainly through sustained discipline rather than any single measure: closing municipal companies to keep spending inside the budget, directing about 60,000 euros a day toward the inherited debt for well over a decade, and using consistent annual surpluses, including a final 25.37 million euro early repayment in 2025.
Who is José María García Urbano?
He is Estepona’s mayor since June 2011, a lawyer who qualified as a Spanish State Attorney, Property Registrar and Notary before entering politics. He has been re-elected twice with growing majorities and now also holds national and EU-level roles in local government finance.
What else has Estepona’s town hall achieved besides tax cuts?
The same period has funded the “Garden of the Costa del Sol” urban renewal, over 120 remodelled streets and squares, a mural route of around 70 works, a 23-kilometre coastal path, and measurable gains in population, employment and registered businesses since 2011.
Does this affect what I pay when I buy a property in Estepona?
Not directly. IBI is an annual ownership tax, separate from the one-off transfer tax or VAT you pay at purchase. It does affect your running costs every year you own the property, though, which is worth factoring into any comparison between areas.
Will Estepona’s IBI keep falling?
The council has cut it every year since 2012 and, now that the debt is fully cleared, there is no longer a repayment obligation competing for that budget. Nothing is guaranteed year to year, but the trend has been consistently downward for over a decade.
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