R. Karbauskis asks the LRT Council to apologize for the excessive salary

Added: R. Karbauskis answers to V questions.

LRT executive salaries are truly impressive, sometimes well above the head of state salaries. The director’s salary, even when calculated by the maximum coefficients approved by the Government Resolution, is double the maximum established by the Government. Given that LRT is still considered to be paying teachers’ money, the question arises as to whether such behavior in the media market is responsible and undirected, especially at a time when commercial media is facing financial difficulties caused by the pandemic. COVID-19 and have lost significant advertising revenue. Therefore, we want the LRT to quote such salaries to all teachers who pay and use them, quoted in the press release. Karbauskis.

In the LRT financial report for the previous year, the salaries of the people holding the LRT for 2019 were announced: € 70,394.86 for the Director General, € 60,957.05 for the Deputy Director General, 121,665.87 EUR for the Head of the Internet Department, EUR 99,439 for the Head of the Administration and Activity Development Department. 18 euros.

R. Karbauskis says that the rational and transparent use of the budget is a priority.

Other media market participants have doubts whether the LRT financing procedure does not distort fair competition in the market and does not violate European Union law. The problem is being examined by the European Commission after the appeal of the Lithuanian commercial media, so we will also have to give explanations. Therefore, we must be absolutely sure that the funds are used in a responsible and reasonable manner, says R. Karbauskis.

LRT: compliance with legislation

First, we would like to emphasize that the LRT operates in accordance with the requirements of legal acts, as well as in setting wages for management employees. The salary of the LRT Director General and his Deputy is determined by the LRT Council (not the LRT administration). Wages did not change in 2018. when the new LRT management team started work, it is stated in the LRT comment.

It is also emphasized that when the new management team started work, the decision was made to strengthen important areas of LRT activities by naming them with the necessary competencies and content managers. This cannot be achieved without evaluating and taking into account trends in the remuneration of specialists at this level in the country and without offering a competitive salary. This draws attention to the fact that publicly declared wages are presented in addition to taxes (on paper).

The results achieved by LRT show that the decision to hire a strong specialist administrator, who has already gained experience in the organization, in order to form solid teams of specialists and achieve ambitious goals, has been worthwhile. Last year, LRT not only successfully accomplished its mission, but also increased its audience in both traditional media and the Internet, and for the first time in history, the Lithuanian population was considered the most modern media group in the country, according to the comment.

In response to calls from the commercial media to change LRT funding, the Board emphasizes that the bulk of LRT’s budget is devoted to content creation and acquisition. More than a fifth of the appropriations allocated to the LRT are returned to the state budget as the LRT no longer pays taxes. 2019 State budget appropriations for LRT amounted to € 41.6 million. and. LRT costs 1.24 euros per capita per month in Lithuania.

In addition, the budget of the Lithuanian public broadcaster remains one of the lowest members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) (3 times lower than the EBU average), and will increase from next year. The LRT’s annual budget depends directly on the tax collected by the state: the amount of the LRT allocated to the state budget each year is 1.5% of the state budget and municipal per capita income (GPM) and 1.3% of revenue per special taxes. .

From 2021 January 1 After the new wording of the National Law of Radio and Television of Lithuania comes into force, budget allocations for the LRT will be allocated according to the formula: 1% (no longer 1.5%) of revenue budget to GPM and 1.3% to eliminate income.

LRT is the largest media group in Lithuania, it manages seven media: three radio programs (LRT radio, LRT classic, LRT Opus), two television programs (LRT television, LRT Plus), LRT Lithuanian for Lithuanians in all the world and the news portal LRT.lt.

photo :: 1nocrop

Transparency objectives

Responding to questions V, R. Karbauskis declares that every man has the right to receive fair remuneration for his work, the determination of which cannot violate the requirements of legal acts, if such are applied in a specific case. This is a general principle.

LRT is a national issuer considered as a taxpayer, which must be subject to exceptional standards of transparency, openness and public responsibility. Therefore, the public must justify the reasons for the decision to pay LRT management salaries of ten thousand euros, i. to the extent that neither the head of state nor a part of a high-income trading state-owned company, such as Lithuania Railways, works, as far as audible commercial media is concerned. On the other hand, LRT is a state-owned public institution. Therefore, your manager’s wages fall within Government Resolution no. According to R.Karbauskis, the scope of this regulation establishes the ranges of salaries of said state salaries. Therefore, in my request to the LRT Council, I asked what approach the council, which approves the salaries of the director and his deputy in accordance with the law, did not follow this resolution, because the established director and deputy salaries doubled the possible maximum wages approved in the resolution.

In any case, according to R. Karbauskis, what matters is not the amount of remuneration as such, but the fact that it must depend on the public, on what principles it was calculated, how transparent and objective these principles are, why they can be ignore the legal requirements. The company is the entity that maintains the LRT.

Rayti commented