The mayor of Tías, Pancho Hernández, has defended that his salary is "that established by current legislation and that which has been set", after the criticisms of Nueva Canarias, which has described the increase in his salary as "unethical". The law currently states that for municipalities of 20,001 to 50,000 inhabitants, the mayor can earn a maximum of 55,000 euros.
In statements to Radio Lanzarote-Onda Cero, Hernández explained that now his salary is "55,000 euros gross, to which a withholding of around 29% is applied, leaving 39,050 euros net". In this way, he has denied that his salary is "69,652.48 euros gross per year", as denounced by CC councilor Mame Fernández. The mayor has added that his monthly salary "had been 2,537 euros net" and that now "it will reach 2,800". Thus, he has assured that in the Consistory "not a penny more is charged than what is established by law, which sets the salaries", thus referring to the fact that the maximum limit established is not exceeded.
Regarding the NC councilor, Mame Fernández, the mayor of the municipality has stated that "he acts with hypocrisy and resentment and also does so in a way that has no limits". In this regard, Hernández has stated that when this councilor "was in the government group, he did not mind approving a salary for this mayor much higher than today", which was set at "60,016.18 euros; 5,000 above what the plenary has now agreed". Likewise, he has stressed that Mame Fernández "received a salary and was released part-time" and has reproached him for acting differently when he is in the government and when he is in the opposition. The mayor of Tías considers that the NC councilor has "disproportionate ways, on some occasions, of doing opposition", despite the fact that "when he said goodbye" to the government in 2015 "all were good and beautiful words".
"In 2016 it was maintained, being able to have raised it"
Regarding his salary, Pancho Hernández has explained that between June 2015 - when the legislature began - and March 2017, he has earned 50,000 euros gross, which with the 29% reduction, left the salary at 35,500 euros net. Regarding previous years, the mayor of Tías has pointed out that when they came to the government, in 2011, they found a gross salary of "63,174 and that was the amount to which a 5% reduction was applied, being fixed at 60,016 euros". "And that was maintained in the years 2012, 2013 and 2014", he added.
Regarding the PP's promise to lower salaries, the mayor of the municipality has assured that when they arrived at the Tías Town Hall, in May 2011, "one of the first decisions that were made in plenary by the government group, at that time formed by San Borondón and PP, was the reduction of salaries", of "5%". In addition, "now Law 27/2013 has come into force, which comes to set the salary for public officials with exclusive dedication, because before the law did not set any limit", and that is why "we could put the salary that we wanted", added Pancho Hernández.
As an example, the mayor has commented that when the legislature began in 2015, "in the town halls that were healthy, as is the case of Tías, this law began to be applied". However, he has assured that in 2016 "the same amount was maintained, being able to have raised it", because the 20,000 inhabitants established by law had already been exceeded.
