It appears that the Central Government will not be going forward with the plan to reduce the number of town halls across the country – at present there are just over 8,000. However, it is serious about regulating salaries for mayors and councillors.
In fact, the two major parties have been working together to put some kind of sense into local administrations. You would be wrong, however, if you thought that this ‘cooperation’ has been harmonious, but “something is something,” as the Spanish say.
But before we go further into what has been agreed, let’s take a look at the salaries of some of the mayors in the province, starting with the Mayor of Granada, (PP) José Torres, Hurtado, who earns 61.000 euros per annum. The next biggest town in the province is Motril, whose mayor, Luisa García Chamorro, earns 59,100 euros p/a, without taking into account a possible second public salary as Secretaria General del Partido Popular de Granada.
With the similar salary but mayor of a smaller town, Almuñécar’s Trinidad Herrera earns just 100 euros less a year; 59,000 euros. Moving to Baza, which is governed by socialist Pedro Fernández, as mayor he earns 52,000 euros, whilst the PSOE Mayor of Armilla earns 50,000 euros.
Rounding up the salary tour of the province, the PP Mayor of Guadix earns 49,000, the PSOE Mayor of Maracena earns 46,000 and finally, the PP Mayor of Loja earns 34,000.
So, here comes the proposed amounts, calculated on the number of inhabitants:
Over 500,000 inhab. = 100,000 euros
Between 300,000 and 500,000 = 90,000 euros
Between 150,000 and 300,000 = 80,000 euros
Between 75,000 and 150,000 = 75,000 euros
Between 50,000 and 75,000 = 65,000 euros
Between 20,000 and 50,000 = 55,000 euros
Between 10,000 and 20,000 = 45,000 euros
Between 5,000 and 10,000 = 40,000 euros
Between 1,500 and 5,000 = 30,000 euros
Fewer than 1,500 inhabitant = zero euros.
Well, apart from the Mayor of Almuñécar and Guadix, they’re all looking at a pay rise, none more so that the Mayor of Loja who could see his jump from 34,000 euros to 55,000 euros! Both the Mayor of Almuñécar and Baza would lose 4,000 euros a year. It should also be remembered that Trinidad Herrera gets nowhere as much as what Benavides used to take home.
Bear in mind that we haven’t gone into expense accounts etc, etc.
The proposed law or bill will also establish the number of advisers that a town hall can have on the public payroll and it looks to be that the number of advisers cannot exceed the number of councillors. When we say ‘councillors’ we mean the total number; not only the ones that receive full-time salaries from the municipal coffers. As for these ‘liberados’ or salary-earning councillors, their number can only be equivalent to between 75% and 80% of the total number of councillors.
To give an example, the City hall of Granada had 25 of the 27 councillors receiving salaries so around four would lose their salaries.
OK, seeing as I have embarked on this ridiculously long and detailed article, you might as well have the existing scale that decides how many councillors each town may have according to the number of residents:
50,001 to 100,000 = 25 councillors
20,001 to 50,000 = 21 councillors
10,001 to 20,000 = 17 councillors
5,001 to 10,000 = 13 councillors
2,001 to 5,000 = 11 councillors
1,001 to 2,000 = 9 councillors
251 to 1,000 = 7 councillors
Up to 250 residents = 5 councillors
(News: Granada, Andalucia)