Prime Minister and Budapest Mayor to discuss wage hike for local council workers

Budapest, May 4 (MTI) – Budapest Mayor István Tarlós hopes to address the wage raise of local council employees in a meeting with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán next week, he told commercial television TV2 on Thursday.

“Substantial raises” have been given to employees working “directly for government institutions”, Tarlós said, but those in local councils have yet to receive any. The wage hike would cost around 30 billion forints (EUR 96m) at the Budapest municipal council alone, Tarlós said and expressed hope of reaching an agreement “on some degree of funding” from the government.

With their funding curbed, local authorities cannot be expected to take on growing expenditures, Tarlós said. Talks with the prime minister “always move things forward”, he said, adding that he hoped to have a meeting next week to address the issue.

The agreed wage hike at Budapest transport company BKV is secured for 2018, Tarlós said, and “we expect to manage it in 2019”.

Source: MTI