Govt. increases stipends for Mayors, Town Clerks

Dec 13, 2018 News

Central Government has received approval from the national assembly to increase the stipends offers to mayors, Town Clerks and other executives of local organs.
Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan faced questions on the budgetary allocation for the Ministry yesterday from Opposition MPs.
He explained that while each organ has the right to stipulate how their officers are paid, central Government was providing increase stipends.
As it relates to Mayors, the four hinterland Mayors will receive a monthly stipend of $110,000 and the deputy mayors 85,000. According to Bulkan, the six coastal Mayors will enjoy now for the first time a stipend of $75,000 while their deputies will receive $60,000.
The Hinterland Town Clerks will receive a stipend of $78,000 while those on the coast $55,000. Bulkan disclosed that the Overseers will receive $40,000 monthly and the NDC Chairs, $10,000 monthly.

Minister of Communities, Ronald Bulkan

“Each organ is at their full discretion within their financial means to pay stipends to their chairs and any other officer of the councils,” Bulkan stated.
New salaries for the Regional Executive Officers have gone to $347,288 monthly, which caters for their annualized increases. They will receive a flat sum of $70,000 representing their duty allowance.
Bulkan explained that increased stipends for the Regional Chairs are fairly modest, moving from $284 monthly to $300, while for the Regional Vice Chair, the stipend has moved from $214 to $240.
“Payment for these stipends rose out of the recommendations of the National Conference of Local Democratic Organs where the recommendation was made for capacity building and institutional strengthening and the upgrade in the emoluments of the Local Government leaders,” Bulkan told the National Assembly.
The Guyana Association of Municipalities (GAM) had called for the stipend for Mayors to be increased from the meagre $15,000.
It was felt that councillors are currently constrained to maintain jobs outside their council responsibilities in order to support themselves and families. GAM had pointed out that it had become blatantly evident that the responsibilities of offices require a full time commitment, which is not possible without added compensation.
In some instances, councillors are precluded from remuneration from time missed at work. Even more unfortunate, some have lost their jobs.
GAM compared Guyana’s municipality stipends to Caribbean countries municipal bodies’ salary. In Jamaica the lowest paid councillor earns GY$181,000, in Trinidad GY$107,000 and in Brazil GY$829,000.

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