City Councilmen in Minas Approve Eighty Percent Reduction of Their Salaries

By Xiu Ying, Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – City Councilmen in the town of Arcos, Minas Gerais, approved a bill this week that reduces the salaries of the Municipal Legislature by 80 percent, starting in 2020.

The measure reduces the pay of the city parliamentarians from R$6,149 to R$1,229. The text further provides that the measure will be in effect until December 2024.

Another ruling, also approved by the Arcos city council last Monday, stipulates that the salary of the mayor, which is currently R$24,000, will be reduced by 50 percent, and that in 2020, municipal cabinet members will receive a salary 20 percent less than today.

The deputy mayor is also listed among the public servants who will see changes in their monthly remuneration–salary of R$6,400 will be reduced to R$5,100. This proposal still awaits the approval of the City Executive.

The project initially called for a salary reduction of 20 percent for all local governmental positions, but after the submission of amendments, it reached the approved amounts.

According to the president of the council and the author of the proposal, City Councilman Luiz Henrique Sabino Messias (PSD), the proposal can save at least R$4 million from the city’s finances.

“The job of the councilman does not demand full-time dedication, and this House is an example of that. Almost the absolute majority has other paid functions. Given the crisis that affects the federal government, the state, and our municipality, there is nothing fairer than that such a reduction be proposed,” the councilman pointed out during the vote in the City Council.