Steven N.
The government plans to significantly increase the salaries of Hungary’s mayors next year by an average of 30%, reports HVG. A Fidesz proposal to amend the relevant law was planned for submission at Parliament’s Legislative Committee on Thursday.
According to the text of the proposal, remuneration for the mayor of the capital, town and city mayors, and chairs of municipal assemblies will increase on January 1, 2022 in accordance with income brackets based on population size.
This means that Gergely Karácsony’s monthly salary as Mayor of Budapest will increase to 1,500,000 Ft. (US $4,600), and the salaries of the mayors of Hungary’s larger towns and the individual districts in Budapest will go up to 1,300,000 Ft. (US $4,000).
However, the proposal has a rather glaring flaw: no extra resources will be allocated from the central budget to cover the cost of these salary increases for the nation’s mayors.
As such, local governments will have to raise the funds themselves to pay their mayors a higher wage, during a time when their budgets are already tight due both to the pandemic and cuts in financial contributions from the government.
[HVG]
