The Consell de Formentera has partially accepted a financial claim from Autocares Paya, the company operating the island’s regular public bus service, recognising €94,802.36 including VAT out of the €209,173.53 requested by the company for the 2024 financial year.

The decision was approved unanimously by the Consell’s Governing Board on August 28, in an urgent agenda item, and concerns the final settlement of the 2024 public-service contract as well as a reposición appeal filed by Autocares Paya.

In comparable terms, the amount recognised represents around 45% of the amount claimed by the company.

What the company claimed

Autocares Paya had requested an additional €190,157.75 plus VAT, equivalent to €209,173.53 including VAT, beyond the amounts it had already received during 2024.

The company based its claim on its own analytical accounting of the service. According to the documentation reviewed by the Consell, the company attributed €1,266,774.22 in costs to the regular bus service and calculated an operating deficit of €114,151.30.

It also added a 6% industrial profit margin to its calculation.

The contractual calculation

The Consell's technical Mobility report reached a different conclusion when applying the formula established in the 2024 public-service contract.

The contract, signed on June 10, 2024, established a reference cost of €3.30 per useful kilometre, including VAT.

The service recorded 372,651.21 certified useful kilometres, producing a contractual cost of €1,229,748.99.

After deducting €612,138.70 in actual passenger revenue and €617,610.29 already paid through monthly advance payments, the ordinary contractual settlement comes to €0.

The technical report therefore concluded that no further ordinary monthly payment remained outstanding for 2024.

Why an additional payment was nevertheless recognised

The additional amount recognised by the Consell comes from a separate calculation of costs considered attributable to the service.

The consultant Argon Consultores Económico-Financieros reviewed the company's 2024 accounts and supporting documentation on a line-by-line basis.

Among other adjustments, the consultant questioned the number of kilometres attributed by the company to the regular service.

Autocares Paya had attributed 417,369.36 kilometres to the service, including 44,718.15 kilometres travelled without passengers. The consultant concluded that allocating all of those kilometres to the regular public service was not appropriate.

The review also excluded certain vehicle and non-regular-service costs and identified limitations in the information available concerning personnel costs and fleet depreciation.

After the adjustments, the consultant reduced the costs considered attributable to the service from €1,266,774.22 to €1,204,137.59 before VAT.

Using the revised figures, and after deducting €556,489.73 in passenger revenue, the resulting calculation produced an additional amount of €86,183.96 before VAT.

With VAT included, this amounts to €94,802.36, which is the additional compensation recognised by the Consell.

The 6% profit margin was rejected

One of the main points rejected by the Consell was the 6% industrial profit margin included in the company's claim.

The technical report acknowledges that European and Spanish transport legislation provides for the possibility of a reasonable profit in public-service contracts.

However, it concludes that this does not automatically justify applying a 6% margin to all costs declared by the operator.

According to the report, any reasonable profit must be established or justified using objective parameters and must not result in overcompensation.

The company also requested late-payment interest.

That request was rejected because the Consell considers that the monthly payments for 2024 had already been made and that the additional settlement had not yet been approved, meaning there was no overdue payment obligation at that stage.

The decision does leave open the possibility of interest if payment of the newly recognised amount is delayed beyond the applicable legal period once the corresponding invoice has been submitted.

A dispute that has continued into 2026

The financial disagreement forms part of a wider dispute between the Consell and Autocares Paya over payments associated with the public transport concession.

The company warned in June that accumulated outstanding payments were creating a risk to the continuity of the service. The island's 12 bus drivers subsequently warned of possible industrial action over concerns about their wages.

In July, the Consell approved a €226,220 payment to Autocares Paya to complete the compensation associated with the free resident travel pass during 2025.

At that time, the Consell said that other financial matters connected with the concession were still being regularised.

The latest decision addresses the 2024 settlement, while other financial matters relating to the concession remain separate.

Autocares Paya can still respond

The Consell's decision partially upholds the company's request and rejects other elements of its claim.

The documentation also indicates that the company had not provided a new detailed settlement challenging each of the corrections made by Argon. Autocares Paya had indicated that it did not have access to the consultant's report at the time and reserved the right to expand its arguments.

The Consell has now provided the company with the full file, including the Argon report.

As of the latest report, Autocares Paya had not publicly stated whether it would challenge the decision or accept the amount recognised.

What the decision means

The decision does not establish that Autocares Paya's entire 2024 claim was rejected.

Instead, the Consell recognised €86,183.96 plus VAT as an additional amount technically justified after reviewing the company's cost calculations.

The result is an additional payment of €94,802.36 including VAT, compared with the €209,173.53 that Autocares Paya originally sought.

The dispute over the island's bus service therefore continues, with the latest decision resolving one part of the financial relationship between the Consell and its public transport operator while other matters remain subject to separate administrative proceedings.