Quintana Roo Municipalities and State Congress Face Budget and Councilor Cuts Under Sheinbaum’s Plan B

Chetumal, Quintana Roo — Eight municipalities in Quintana Roo would lose councilors and the state congress would face a budget cut of more than 25% under President Claudia Sheinbaum’s Plan B reform proposal, according to details released this week.

The plan would impose maximum limits on municipal council sizes based on population, affecting most of the state’s municipalities. Only Benito Juárez, Cozumel, and Felipe Carrillo Puerto would maintain their current number of councilors.

Municipal Council Reductions

Under the proposal detailed by Arturo Escobar, national electoral coordinator for the Green Ecologist Party of Mexico (PVEM), municipalities would be limited to:

• 7 councilors for municipalities with up to 60,000 residents
• 12 councilors for municipalities with up to 800,000 residents
• 15 councilors for municipalities with more than 800,000 residents

This would mean Othón P. Blanco (home to the state capital Chetumal) and Playa del Carmen would each lose three councilors, dropping from 15 to 12. Othón P. Blanco has approximately 250,000 residents while Playa del Carmen has around 350,000.

Six smaller municipalities would drop from 9 to 7 councilors:

• Tulum (46,000 residents)
• Bacalar (43,000 residents)
• José María Morelos (35,000 residents)
• Puerto Morelos (31,000 residents)
• Lázaro Cárdenas (30,000 residents)
• Isla Mujeres (25,000 residents)

Benito Juárez, with over one million residents, would maintain its 15 councilors. Cozumel (88,000 residents) and Felipe Carrillo Puerto (92,000 residents) would keep their current 9 councilors.

The state congress will need to determine whether to eliminate councilors elected by proportional representation or relative majority, or some combination of both. The Labor Party has already warned it won’t support the reform if it means eliminating proportional representation councilors.

These institutional size reductions would apply to new municipal governments elected in 2027.

State Congress Budget Cut

The Plan B reform also proposes capping the Quintana Roo State Congress budget at 0.07% of the state’s total annual budget.

This would require cutting 26-27% from the congress’s current 536 million peso budget, reducing it to less than 400 million pesos next year. The exact amount depends on whether the state’s total budget increases at this year’s rate or follows the Finance and Planning Department’s more conservative projections.

The cut would represent 140-149 million pesos removed from the legislative budget. According to a recent analysis by the Quintana Roo Legislative Observatory, the congress currently spends 69% of its budget on payroll for legislators and 631 employees, 14% on social assistance programs, 12% on general services, and 4% on purchases.

The Plan B budget cuts would affect only 12 of Mexico’s 32 state congresses, excluding the six most expensive ones. It remains unclear whether the initiative would require immediate implementation or allow for a gradual transition, as proposed for the Senate budget reduction.