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Timişoara Mayor Dominic Fritz announced on Tuesday that he had cut the bonuses awarded to employees working on EU-funded projects, as they were supported by the local budget and the execution rate was low.
He said that the mayor’s office has contracted projects worth 460 million lei in recent years, but only 1 million lei has been reimbursed, which means an absorption rate of 0.22%.
Fritz affirms that under these conditions he reviewed the bonuses paid for the development of the projects and found that from 2017 to now the mayor’s office paid 6.5 million lei for salary increases for these projects, the beneficiaries being 120 employees.
- “This means that to spend (to be reimbursed, no). At the moment, 1 million lei from European funds, we pay salary increases of almost 7 million lei. These salary increases are not paid with European funds, but from our own local budget So I spent 1 million lei of European money, but paid almost 7 million lei from my own budget.
- We have decided to suspend these increases from this month, at least for November and December, and until next year we will develop a system in which these increases depend on the performance of the project. I am sorry for the more than 120 colleagues who receive these bonuses, but I am sure that they also understand that, on the one hand, we are in a difficult economic situation and, on the other, given the lack of progress in the part of European funds, it is a decision we have to make, “said Dominic Fritz, quoted by Agerpres.
Responding to questions from the press, the mayor said that these increases are not for drafting projects financed with European funds, but for their implementation.
- “There are bonuses that can be given up to 50% of the base salary (…). The idea is that they work on these projects during working hours, they are not overtime. There are some projects where nothing has moved, but I see in the table that someone received a 30-40% raise for 80-100 hours worked in a month for this project, I see every other day a two hour coordination meeting , and there I have some signs of Question, because the result does not correspond to the supposed effort made, “said the mayor.
Dominic Fritz also announced that until the system with the criteria for granting said increase is clarified, with the conditions that allow its subsequent reception, they will be suspended.
He noted that he did not expect a court action from the employees on the case, as the bonuses were awarded “by the good will of the mayor.”
- “I did not have a discussion with the mayor’s union about cutting these bonuses, because it is up to me to grant them. The mayor’s office cannot go to court for not granting these bonuses, because they are not part of the employment contract, but rather They are actually bonuses that are given, something for the good will of the mayor ”, clarified the mayor.
Fritz pointed out that he only has records for November with the granting of these bonuses, in which Nicolae Robu is not found because he was no longer mayor, but he specified that it is not possible for a mayor to take such a bonus.
