Orihuela Council cuts salaries

THE new governing team of Orihuela (PSOE, CLR-Claro and LV) have approved councillors salaries which represent an annual saving of €400,000.

Mayor Monserrate Guillen’s salary was reduced the most, from €58,000 to €48,000. Councillor’s salaries were reduced to around €48,500 and €43,000 and of the previous corporation from between €43,000 and €40,000.

Part-time staff salaries were reduced from €28,000 to €25,000. Attendees’s at plenary sessions will be paid €200 and the committee €100.

“You tell us we left the coffers empty and yet you still have money for salaries,” ex-mayor Monica Lorente and current Popular Party (PP) spokesperson reportedly said. She along with fellow PP councillors – David Costa and Antonio Rodriguez Barbera – apparently opposed each proposal, according to Diario Informacion.

This along with the accusations back and forth between the old and new ruling parties caused the plenary session to last around one-and-a-half-hours. The previous ruling PP owed €750,000 to the fire department by the end of their term, which the current mayor who was in opposition for eight years was happy to point out.