The 2027 Fallas accounts come with two readings, and they do not point the same way. Commissions will invest 10,593,406 euros in their monuments, of which 7.8 million corresponds to large fallas and 2.7 million to children's fallas. That is 7.91% more than last year's declaration and leaves the figure just 57,000 euros short of the all-time ceiling of 2008 and 2009, when 10.6 million was reached.

The second reading is the uncomfortable one. That increase does not keep pace with the fallero census, which rose 25% at the end of last year and continues to climb: some commissions have closed admission of new members and set up waiting lists. The result is that investment per fallero falls from 99.99 euros to 86.31, a ratio that admits caveats because new members' fees go into a general budget where monuments, celebrations and fixed costs all sit together.

11% of commissions carry 34% of spending

Concentration is the other key to the economic map. Section Especial and Primera A and B, just 45 fallas, add up to 3,674,000 euros. In other words, 11% of commissions account for 34% of all large-falla investment. From there the ladder flattens quickly: in Sexta A, the year-on-year difference is barely 250 euros on average per commission.

The 3,500-euro floor required by the subsidy call — VAT excluded — leaves five commissions out of the aid because they declare below it, though it has also forced many others to stretch: had that minimum applied last year, around twenty fallas would have gone unsubsidised. The City Council distributes 2,694,438 euros, 30% of each monument's taxable base.

The curve goes back a long way. During the crisis, costs fell to 6.7 million in 2014. Since then it has risen steadily to brush once again against a record from almost two decades ago, though in a very different context: back then Nou Campanar alone contributed a million euros.

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