Political business SVP wants to fight higher salaries for Zurich municipal councillors
The members of Zurich's municipal council want to give themselves a pay rise: They discussed a draft of the totally revised compensation ordinance at its first reading on Wednesday evening. The SVP has already announced a referendum.
04.09.2024, 14:05
04.09.2024, 19:36
SDA
This is because the SVP considers the bill to be completely out of hand, as municipal councillor Samuel Balsiger said. It had turned out even worse than feared - "exorbitant wage increases" were now planned. At a time when the middle classes are having to tighten their belts, the municipal council wants to shamelessly enrich itself, criticized Balsiger.
Although the final vote is still pending and will not take place until one of the next meetings, he has already announced his intention to fight the new compensation ordinance at the ballot box. "The SVP will call for a referendum."
Compensation by the minute
The completely revised compensation ordinance provides for a new model. Instead of the previous monthly expense allowance of CHF 260, the 125 municipal councillors will now each receive a basic lump sum of CHF 1,000 per month.
In addition, they are to be compensated CHF 1.20 for every minute of council meeting they attend. There will also be additional contributions for committee meetings and parliamentary groups.
Selina Walgis (Greens) stated that the compensation should now reflect the work involved. The workload had increased over the past 25 years, but the salary had not. Walgis said that modern compensation should also reduce the number of early resignations from the council, which always meant a loss of expertise.
Sofia Karakostas (SP) explained that it is now only possible to participate in the municipal council with a reduced workload. However, the previous compensation for political office did not compensate for the loss of salary. Not everyone could afford this. "However, a municipal council office must be possible for everyone."
The level of the rates
For the representatives of the SVP and FDP, the planned rates were far too high. A lump sum of CHF 300 instead of CHF 1,000 would have been enough for the People's Party, and CHF 400 for the Liberals.
The two parties also wanted to shake up the minute-by-minute rate; the SVP proposed reducing the rate to 1 franc, while the FDP argued for simple half-hourly allowances.
In other cities, parliamentarians received significantly less pay, said Roger Bartholdy (SVP). "Are we so much better that we deserve higher salaries?" Roger Meier (FDP) spoke of an inappropriate, even greedy dip into the state coffers.
However, the majority of Zurich's municipal council backed the draft submitted by the management. A rejection motion by the FDP to draw up a proposal with a merely appropriate increase in compensation instead did not find a majority. The motion failed by 21 votes to 93.
Insured in the pension fund
The bill discussed at first reading now also provides for council work to be included in the occupational pension scheme: Councillors are to be insured with the City of Zurich Pension Fund.
"One of the aims of this is to ensure that there are no or only small pension gaps despite the usually reduced workload during council work," said the management, explaining the plan.
The compensation ordinance will now go to the drafting committee. The final vote will take place at a later meeting.
