Both political parties have urged their mayors and former mayors to refund the honoraria increase they had received from 2008.

While the Labour Party said it expected its mayors to refund the payment, the Nationalist Party said many of its mayors had already given it back.

Mayors were automatically given higher honoraria payments when MPs’ allowances were increased in 2008.

The increases for MPs prompted outrage when they were revealed, with the Government forced to repeal them in February 2011.

When the ministers refunded the money, mayors were expected to follow suit but the Government never actually asked for it until last month.

Answering a parliamentary question by PL MP Leo Brincat on Monday, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said around €95,000 still had to be recouped from the 26 mayors, seven former mayors and four members of the Local Councils Association.

According to association president Michael Cohen, who also needs to refund payments, the money is still owed only because the Government had never asked for it back until September, when the Department for Local Government sent council secretaries a memo about the matter.

The Labour Party blamed a “GonziPN fiasco” when asked yesterday whether it expected its mayors to make the refunds.

“This is the result of a GonziPN fiasco. As a party, we urge mayors to pay back,” a spokesman said.

A spokesman for the Nationalist Party said “of course” it expected its mayors to repay. He added that many of them had already done so.

Mayors have been given until the end of 2013 to make the repayment, although some may choose to clear the debt before then.