Baja Bernie - 7-12-2005 at 11:59 AM
July 12, 3005
Tijuana News
Officials' High Salaries Under Scrutiny
Debate is breaking out in Tijuana over the salaries and benefits of city
council members and municipal department heads. City council representatives
from the National Action Party (PAN) and the Party of the Democratic
Revolution (PRD) recently expressed displeasure over the loss of $800 dollar
fringe benefits received every month for vehicle and cell phone usage. The
extra compensation was regularly paid to city council members under the past
municipal administration but was terminated during the current government of
Jorge Hank Rhon, who was elected last year under the banner of the
Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).
"Since December 1, we have stopped receiving the benefits without any
explanation," said PAN City Councilman Oscar Zamoya, who heads up the Tijuana
council's sports commission. "We pay for our telephones and cars, even when
they are used for work-related matters."
In Tijuana, city council representatives earn about $6,500 dollars
per-month. Their salaries are presently the highest for city council positions
on the Mexican side of the U.S.-Mexico border region. In Ciudad Juarez,
Chihuahua, city councillors draw about $3,250 dollars per month in pay, while
their colleagues in Monterrery, Nuevo Leon, make about $4,700 dollars monthly.
In Ensenada, Baja California, the municipal representative earn approximately
$3,500 dollars a month.
Despite the above-average compensation, Tijuana City Councilman Carlos Mejia
Lopez of the PRD party said the salary situation of city council members was
unfair in view of the 150 percent pay hikes recently granted to some municipal
department heads. Tijuana public security chief Ernesto Santillana Santillana
makes almost $12,000 dollars each month, an amount more than double the figure
paid to Santillana's counterpart in Ciudad Juarez. Municipal attorney Jose
Maria Lozano and Government Secretary Fernando Castro Trenti likeswise pull in
about $12,000 dollars monthly.
Source:
Frontera, July 11, 2005. Article by Daniel Salinas
Frontera NorteSur (FNS): on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news
Center for Latin American and Border Studies
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico
Sharksbaja - 7-12-2005 at 12:05 PM
Sounds like politicos make more than in the U.S. City council,
their always a bunch of idiots.