in-cyprus 26 March 2025
Police have escalated its dispute with Limassol Municipality over unpaid overtime costs for carnival security operations, referring the matter to the Attorney General after the Municipality refused to pay a €43,000 bill.
Police Chief Themistos Arnaoutis told the Parliamentary Legal Affairs Committee on Wednesday that the force has implemented a new policy categorising events into three distinct types: charitable events, profit-generating celebrations, and protest demonstrations.
“For profit-generating events, the Police Force has determined that appropriate compensation for officer overtime should be requested,” Arnaoutis explained during the committee hearing.
The dispute centres on police resources deployed to secure two carnival parades in Limassol, with municipal authorities rejecting the payment demand on grounds that such charges have never previously been imposed for community celebrations.
Limassol Mayor Yiannis Armeftis had previously said regarding this bill that “this amount cannot be easily paid because it was not budgeted for”. He had added that “if the Police want to charge for events, we can discuss it, but this decision should not have been announced to us just days before the grand carnival parade”.
Following the municipality’s refusal to honour the payment notice, Arnaoutis confirmed he has formally written to the Attorney General seeking guidance on potential enforcement measures against the local authority if payment continues to be withheld.
