Hayk Marutyan's 'Substantial Appetite'

The Yerevan City Council will hold an extraordinary session on May 8 to discuss the staffing and salary increase issues. It is planned to raise the salaries of 1,700 employees of the Yerevan Municipality by an average of 30%. The proposal includes increasing the mayor's salary from 575,000 drams to 1,200,000 drams, the salaries of department heads from 346,000 drams to 641,000 drams, and the salaries of district leaders from the previous 400,000 drams to 773,000 drams. The municipality claims that the salary increases will not require additional expenses and will be covered by the bonuses fund.

It is evident that the new initiative by Hayk Marutyan's team is, in essence, scandalous and has naturally sparked vigorous discussions within political circles and on social networks.

Salary increases are inherently a positive development that further motivates employees and also has a pronounced anti-corruption context. However, it is questionable that the mayor and his deputies are receiving almost double the salary increase while the salaries of mid-level and lower-tier employees are only increased by 25-30%. This situation not only fails to eliminate corruption risks but could actually exacerbate them.

Another important issue is that the topic of salary increases should have been preceded by the optimization of the municipality's staff. Such an action has not taken place, and quite the opposite—the head of the mayor's 'Lus' faction claims that the staffing at the Yerevan Municipality will increase by 40%. For instance, who can explain what the mayor's seven advisors are doing, and what valuable advice they have provided to Hayk Marutyan?

On the other hand, the municipality’s representatives' claims that the substantial salary increases are happening at the expense of the bonuses fund seem highly questionable because even a superficial review of this year's Yerevan budget leads to the conclusion that expenditures for the repair of kindergartens, landscaping, and elevator systems have been reduced, while the staffing is being inflated, and salaries are being raised.

However, the problem, apart from financial calculations, first and foremost, has political and moral significance,” writes the newspaper.

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