Whilst the Central Government is assailing the nation with cuts in public spending, coupled to increased taxes etc, the Mayor of Salobreña has apparently seen fit to increase his own salary in contrary to previous electoral pledges. Not content, he has also increased the salary of one of his councillors.
Couple this with the fact that Salobreña spends half of its annual budget on salaries, and you are left with many people feeling bitter towards politicians in general.
During the last local elections, the now Mayor, campaigned with the pledge that his party would not use political power for their own personal benefit; “It’s a public service,” they reasoned. Accordingly, he promised that he would increase the salaries of his councillors, should he win the mayor’s office. The bottom line was, none of his team would receive more than they did from the jobs that they had left to take up office.
Subsequently, in the first Plenary Meeting of the Town Council in July 2011, the adjustments were put into practice, However, with the approval of the 2012 budget, according to the opposition parties, the Mayor and the Vice-Mayor, Maria del Carmen Rodríguez, increased their salaries in relation to the salaries of their previous occupations.
In the case of the Mayor, Gonzalo Fernández Pulido, he was a school teacher in Molvízar. Thanks to a move made by the national committee of his party, the PSOE, all party members were strongly urged to publicly disclose their earnings, via the Internet. Gonzalo Fernández Pulido declared in May 2011 that he earned 35,907 euros per annum, which is equivalent to 2,564 euros a month. However, he now earns 40.950 euros p.a. (2,925 euros p.m).
In the case of the Vice Mayor-cum-Councillor for the Economy, Maria del Carmen Rodríguez, who was a clerk at the Motril Town Hall, she allegedly inflated her earnings by including a productivity bonus of 6,000 euros, in order to receive a higher salary as a councillor, according to opposition leader, Ángel Coello.
According to another opposition figure, José Pérez (PA) Sra. Rodríguez’s new salary in her town-council post was justified by taking on several areas, yet these ‘extra tasks’ were transferred to Javier Ortega; the councillor who deserted his own party to join the governing PSOE council (allegedly for the salary attached)… which is yet another questionable act.
The said Vice-Mayor, by the way, refused to publish her earnings online because ‘it belongs to her private life.’
In her defence, however, she stated that the productivity bonus, which reportedly inflated her per-annum salary by 6,000 euros, no longer exists. Furthermore, she states that as a public functionary working part-time at the Motril Town Hall she actually earned more than now, as she was able to claim overtime and other concepts. Perhaps the subject of salaries earned by town-hall functionaries and their workloads should also be looked into?
Her final justification is: “In all jobs, those that have most rolls and responsibilities earn more.”
But it is not just the socialist council that is causing a furore, because the previous conservative mayor caused an uproar when he increased his own salary by 3,500 euros a year.
(News: Salobrena, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)