Palma´s Mayor freezes council salaries

PALMA
AINA Calvo, Palma's first socialist Mayor in 16 years, has frozen her own salary and that of all the town councillors, which will be pegged to the increase in the Consumer Price Index.

This means that she will receive 63'700 euros a year, gross.
The deputy mayors and group spokespersons will receive 54'642 euros a year gross. Full time councillors will be paid 40'978 euros and part time councillors 27'314 euros a year gross.

Calvo's decision is in direct contrast to that of the Calvia town council, where Carlos Delgado, re-elected Mayor, has increased his salary by 50 per cent to 90'000 euros.

The approval of the salaries is one of the matters on the agenda for today's extraordinary plenary meeting, the council's first.
Plenary meetings will be held on the last Monday of every month instead of the last Thursday of every month, so that councillor Miram Muñoz of the PSOE can combine her duties as city councillor with those of deputy in Congress in Madrid.

The council's governing body will be formed by the Mayor, socialist councillors Andreu Alcover and Joana Maria Borras, Eberhard Grosske, the Bloc spokesman, and UM councillor Cristina Cerdó. Socialist councillor Joaquin Rodriguez will be appointed president of the spokesperson's committee. José Hila will be the spokesman of the socialist group.

Today's meeting will also include the general meetings of the five municipal companies, Emaya (the water board), the EMT (bus company), the funeral parlour, the car park society and the Works and Projects Board.

Calvo took office as Mayor of Palma on June 16 thanks to the votes of her party, the PSOE, and those of Majorcan Union (UM) and the Bloc per Mallorca, the same groups which yesterday voted for Maria Antonia Munar, leader of the UM, as Speaker of Parliament, and which agreed to a pact which will lead to the formation of a Balaric government headed by Francesc Antich and a Council of Majorca headed by Francina Armengol.