The Ministry of Interior has set the tone to reduce the number of deputy mayors and relevant bills will be promoted in this direction, through which the duties of deputy mayors will be defined, which in some local authorities cause controversy as the powers of the latter. It is noted that the existing legislation does not define responsibilities for deputy mayors, so they cannot do anything without the approval of the mayor.

The Minister of the Interior, presenting his ministry's budget before Parliament, after saying that the number of municipalities is large and needs to be evaluated, added: Regarding the number of deputy mayors, the government's position is that it is too large. The ideal scenario is their reduction to one deputy mayor per municipality, with specific duties.

The above issues are expected to be addressed by the Minister of Interior, Mr. Constantinos Ioannou, during a discussion of his ministry's budget before the House Standing Committee on Finance.

As is known, the (previous) government favoured the creation of 17 municipalities instead of 20 that have finally been established by decision of Parliament. As for the number of deputy mayors, they increased from 30 to 93, something that was pointed out from the beginning by the Minister of the Interior, who was in favour of reducing them. A typical example is the Municipality of Polis Chrysochous, where there are 14 deputy mayors.

It should be noted, however, that the election of deputy mayors in each district of a municipality was used as a lure to convince mainly community leaders but also municipal officials who would merge that under the reform they would not lose their powers or their emoluments if elected.

The above reforms (within the reform already implemented since July 1st of this year) are not expected to pass painlessly since it is obvious that there will be reactions from those affected but also from parliamentary parties that will be under pressure from local actors.

However, especially with regard to deputy mayors, part of society considers it unnecessary to have so many. It is noted that their earnings reach €2.3 million, annually.

Initially, the salaries that were predicted were higher, but in the process, at the insistence of the Minister of the Interior, they were reduced to the voter base of each community.

According to the information provided, the situation is as follows:

1. For municipal districts with no more than 300 voters, deputy mayors shall receive 20% of the mayor's remuneration

2. For municipal districts with more than 300 voters but no more than 500: 30% of the Mayor's salary

3. For municipal districts whose voters exceed 500 but do not exceed 1,000: 40% of the Mayor's remuneration

4. For municipal districts whose voters exceed 1,000: 50% of the Mayor's salary.

As regards the remuneration of local authorities, the situation is as follows:

-The 20 new Mayors to have a total salary of €1.3 million. which corresponds, on average, to €65,000 per year for each Mayor.

-The 93 (new deputy mayors) will have a total salary of €2.3 million attributing, on average, to an annual salary of €26,881  to each of the deputy mayors.

According to data presented by the Minister of Interior, Mr. Constantinos Ioannou, their remuneration ranges from €717 to €2,987 per month.

The 349 councillors will have a total salary of €1.6 million. annually corresponding to €4,584 per year (on average) to each of them.