STROVOLOS Mayor Savvas Eliophotou yesterday denied any wrongdoing and defended the municipality against a damning report by the Auditor-general (AG) about delays in submitting accounts for audit and pay rises to staff the AG considered to be illegal.
In her 2001 report, Auditor-general Chrystalla Yiorkadji censured the municipality for delaying to submit its accounts for the year 2000, resulting in her office being unable to audit the accounts for 2000 and 2001.
The AG notes in the report that the municipality had informed her the delays were due to the installation of new software and to the move to a new building, a fact confirmed by
Eliophotou yesterday.
“Strovolos Municipality is one of the most modern municipalities right now,” he said.
“We had problems with the installation of the new software and it was impossible to submit the accounts on time,” Eliophotou said.
He rejected allegations in the press that the delays were due to other reasons, adding the 2000 accounts had been submitted last December, instead of April and that the 2001 accounts were expected to follow suit by the end of the year.
“The delay in submitting the accounts doesn’t mean a lot,” he said.
The mayor added that in any case the municipality had its own internal auditing service set up in accordance with AG standards: ” I don’t sign a cheque if the bill is not certified by the internal audit,” he insisted.
The Auditor-general also reported that because the municipality had not implemented 1995 civil service rules concerning salaries and other benefits in the cases of changes in pay scales provided for in the 1995-97 collective agreement and in additional pay rises, the wages of most employees were wrong, costing the municipality more money.
“It has been noticed that the municipal council, instead of proceeding to correct the employees’ salaries, on October 12 1998 and may 6 1999 gave additional pay rises to five employees whose salaries were wrong, and their income was higher than what they should have earned,” the AG’s report said.
Eliophotou said the pay increases had been given after collective bargaining between the employers and the unions.
He said the issue dated back to 1996 and the rises were given to avoid strikes.
He said the municipalities were effectively caught between the unions and the government.
The municipalities are obliged to give the same pay rises to their employees as the civil service. So when the government decided to give two pay rises to its engineers the municipalities had to follow suit. But after the raises were given, the municipalities discovered that certain employees were now making the same money as their superiors.
“The superiors now come and demand a raise; if you say no, the union steps in and accuses us of breaching the collective agreement,” Eliophotou said.
“And a vicious circle starts; I’m not happy and I don’t want to justify it but it is a vicious circle.”
He said he had proposed to the Union of Municipalities to hire professional negotiators so such issues could be spotted earlier on.
Eliophotou said he has invited the Finance and Interior Ministries to sit in on the negotiations so as to avoid being told that agreements were illegal and had to be rescinded.
But the reply was “finish the negotiations and before you sign send the agreement to us and we will decide if it is fair or legal,” Eliophotou said.
“Imagine talking with the unions for 12 months and ministry stepping in at the end saying what you have agreed is in conflict with the rules; and I cannot go back,” the mayor added.
“I am not happy with the matter but I do not have a solution and it can’t be corrected just by the AG saying it is illegal,” the mayor said.
“What can we do? Take their raise away and have a strike?” Eliophotou said.
The AG also slated the municipality for creating nine supervisor positions, which the report said were opened without an in-depth study into the needs and potential costs.
“I can assure you that from the day the nine supervisors were appointed to oversee 120 workers the municipality has become more efficient,” Eliophotou said.
The municipality’s advisers suggested the move would be beneficial and that no extra costs would arise.
“If the municipal council decides it needs nine supervisors that have to be on a specific pay scale to be able to work and produce, it is an issue between employer and employee,” the mayor said.
“I have never claimed that things at the Strovolos municipality functioned perfectly.
“We have many weaknesses and mistakes,” he said.
“What I can assure is that there is no mismanagement or favouritism,” Eliophotou said.
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