By Suzanne Daley, New York Times, Feb. 28/29, 2012

HIGUERA DE LA SERENA, Spain — It didn’t take long for Manuel García Murillo, a bricklayer who took over as mayor here last June, to realize that his town was in trouble. It was 800,000 euros, a little more than $1 million, in the red. There was no cash on hand to pay for anything — and there was work that needed to be done.

But then an amazing thing happened, he said. Just as the health department was about to close down the day care center because it didn’t have a proper kitchen, Bernardo Benítez, a construction worker, offered to put up the walls and the tiles free. Then, Maria José Carmona, an adult education teacher, stepped in to clean the place up.

And somehow, the volunteers just kept coming. [....]

“We lived beyond our means,” Mr. García said. “We invested in public works that weren’t sensible. We are in technical bankruptcy.” Even some money from the European Union that was supposed to be used for routine operating expenses and last until 2013 has already been spent, he said. [....]

The volunteers wear badges while they work just so that no one thinks they are being paid. There is a lot of suspicion around the town’s finances, a sign of the times, some residents say. Scandals are popping up all over Spain. Even the king’s son-in-law is under investigation, accused of diverting public money for his own use. [....]

Higuera de la Serena’s former mayor, Bibiana Frutos Martín, a Socialist, says it was hard to resist giving in to the residents’ desire for more and more services. “We maintained a lot of services that we haven’t been able to pay for,” she said. “But we did it because the residents wanted them.”  [....]