Mayors approve honorarium to association president

Crossfire characterised the second day of the biannual mayors' meeting yesterday attended by most of the 68 mayors in Malta and Gozo.

Held at the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta, the meeting approved three motions, one of which referred to the payment of an honorarium to the president of the Association of Local Councils, creating quite a stir during the debate.

One of the motions approved with one abstention called on the government to stop considering the Association of Local Councils as a government department.

A government memo called on departments to seek the approval of the Ministry of Finance about how and on what they planned to spend 10 per cent of their subvention.

The memo was also sent to the Association of Local Councils.

Kalkara mayor Michael Cohen, who also sits on the ALC council, said it was "a shame that the association had to beg" to spend part of its funds.

A motion by St Paul's Bay mayor Paul Bugeja noted with satisfaction the proposal by the government that all citizens of EU member states residing in Malta would be able to vote for and be elected to local councils.

After a series of interventions from the floor, with Marsaxlokk mayor Carmelo Bugeja calling for its withdrawal, the motion was approved with an amendment in the form of an appeal to the government to ratify the EU convention on the participation of foreigners in local government.

The third motion approved after a counter-proposal by Floriana mayor Nigel Holland was not carried, called on the government to pay an honorarium equivalent to that of a mayor to the person holding the presidency of the ALC.

If the government failed to agree to the proposal, the local councils would between them fork out the honorarium, which would work out at about Lm30 from each council.

The motion was moved by the St Paul's Bay mayor and amended by Mr Cohen.

During the meeting, the mayors touched on various themes including a code of ethics for councillors, payment of some sort for councillors, and the appointment of executive secretaries.

The argument here was that if it was accepted that councils were autonomous, then executive secretaries ought to be appointed and dismissed by the councils and not by the minister responsible for local government.

Valletta mayor Paul Borg Olivier argued that councils should be granted greater political and administrative freedom, preferring an audit control rather than political intervention.

Concluding the meeting, Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg said that he would be soon moving an amendment to the act dealing with justice commissioners to close loopholes for those who attempted to avoid paying fines issued by local councils.

The government planned to pass on more public buildings and land to local councils and now that the department of local councils and the department of land fell under the same ministry, bureaucracy and the time taken to approve these transfers would be trimmed.

The meeting was attended also by Dr Chris Cardona, MP, Labour spokesman on local councils.

The next meeting to be held in Gozo is scheduled in September.