Govt to ‘address issue’ of deputy mayors’ role and salary

The government is to “address the issue” of defining the role and rationalising the salaries of deputy mayors, Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou said on Saturday.

He also called the number of deputy mayors “excessive”.

He was reacting to an article which appeared in newspaper Phileleftheros, which declared that the 93 deputy mayors elected across the island on June 9 cost the taxpayer €2.3 million per year, but “have no duties”.

Ioannou said deputy mayors’ salaries have already been reduced from the initially provided amount, and that other proposals would be in the pipeline for the laws surrounding local government to be revised.

His words come off the back of statements to CyBC radio earlier in the week, in which he said “legislative improvements” would be made to plug a €12m gap in the funding of district administrations.

“The goal is an ongoing upgrading as the concrete realities emerge. Everyone is willing to improve,” he had said.

Earlier, the Fiscal Council had issued a series of recommendations and suggestions to Ioannou.

Their analysis had highlighted “substantial weaknesses” which may lead to “numerous problems” going forward.

The council’s chairman Michalis Persianis claimed there was a “high political risk of municipalities halting work or refusing to provide services” should financial disputes arise between local and central government.

Before the elections, Ioannou had said he expected there to be difficulties, but that the will existed on the part of the government to “solve all issues for the benefit of the public”.

President Nikos Christodoulides meanwhile described it as “a big bet that we have to work to win”.

However, despite Ioannou’s optimism, Akel MP Aristos Damianou was keen to point out deficiencies las month.

“I must for the umpteenth time express our dismay at the delay, partly understandable, in tabling implementation bills,” he said.

The government had promised prior to the local government reform’s implementation that it would lead to “better, faster service” and “improve quality of life”.

This was the aim set out by newly appointed Nicosia mayor Charalambos Prountzos last week.

He underlined his commitment to “making the reform work effectively”.

“We want to embrace this change with confidence because I believe it will succeed, and we will ensure it does,” he said, stressing that municipalities “are essentially service providers to their residents”.

“This reform represents a significant shift for local governance in Cyprus,” he added, highlighting what he said was the potential to improve services for all residents and create sustainable, efficient municipal structures.