The Regional Council is increasing the salaries of the mayors of Quartu and Alghero. Graziano Milia and Raimondo Cacciotto are leading the municipalities, with a decidedly non-center-right stance. But the one who proposed the increase was Alessandro Sorgia: when he submitted his amendment to a law that wasn't supposed to address mayoral emoluments, in the middle of the night, during a session just before mid-August, he was still a member of the League. The chamber approved it, despite some initial hesitation from the Democratic Party and its allies. So here's the increase: the mayor of Quartu will receive 70% of the regional president's monthly salary (previously 45%), while his colleague in Alghero will receive 50% (previously 35%). A (not) side note: the governor earns around €13,000 gross per month. When asked about the reason for the decision, those directly affected—both proponent and beneficiaries—respond with one voice: a flaw has been corrected.

How it works

It all starts with determining the amount of the Sardinian mayors' allowances. The point of reference is the regional president. The mayors of metropolitan cities (currently Cagliari and Sassari) earn the same amount. They are followed by their fellow mayors of provincial capitals with populations exceeding 100,000, at 80%. And, at 70%, those of provincial capitals with fewer residents. The lower brackets are determined based on population: from 45% for mayors of municipalities with populations exceeding 50,000 to 21% for those with fewer than 3,000. The leadership of Quartu—the island's third-largest city with nearly 70,000 residents—or Alghero (fifth with 42,000) was worth less than Lanusei, with about 5,000.

The distortion

And this was the "distortion" that needed to be rectified. The Chamber had just approved a major budget change on August 12th when the attention of the members of parliament was drawn to another law. It was supposed to address spending containment for statutory bodies. But Sorgia inserted an amendment that concerned mayors: "A corrective," he explained, "to remedy an unreasonable disparity in treatment between mayors of provincial capitals and those of some of the region's most important towns: the latter, in some cases, are entitled to compensation equal to half, or slightly more, of what is paid to a colleague with a population equal to one-twelfth." Quartu and Alghero are not named. But the wording of the approved law concerns them alone. The problem was not that some mayors of very small towns earn too much, but that the other two earn too little.

The mayors

"The Regional Council rightly corrected an oversight in the previous law that classified municipalities like Sanluri, Tempio, Villacidro, Oristano, Nuoro, Carbonia, Tortolì, Iglesias, and Lanusei, all smaller than Quartu and Alghero, which are Sardinia's third and fifth largest cities, in a higher table," explains Milia, with whom Cacciotto fully agrees. "When a clear error is corrected," he adds, "one can only be satisfied. That said, the principle we stated years ago applies to our municipality: increases will be granted if they are covered by the Region; if this doesn't happen, we won't use a single cent of the municipal budget, even if we can." Milia, however, is not on leave from his job and will receive half of the new allowance.

Enrico Fresu

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