Mayors' wages capped at 100,000 euros a year and based upon population size

MAYORS in town and city councils throughout Spain will not be allowed to earn more than 100,000 euros a year from next week onwards – the same as the maximum wage for a Secretary of State within the government.

This could mean some mayors will see their income reduced, although it may give licence to others to increase theirs.

A table of earnings has been created by the Council of Ministers and will be included in a new Bill of Law and in the Law of General State Budgets, which fixes upper limits for salaries for everyone working in public office.

Mayors of towns or cities with a population of half a million people or more will see their wages capped at 100,000 euros a year, whilst those with fewer than half a million but more than 300,000 will not be allowed to earn more than 90,000 per annum.

With a population of over 150,000 and up to 300,000 people inclusive, they cannot be paid more than an annual 80,000 euros.

For towns with over 75,000 residents up to 150,000, maximum wages are set at 75,000 euros a year and drop to 65,000 euros for mayors of towns with more than 50,000 and up to and including 75,000 residents.

Typical coastal resort towns will fall into the lower population brackets, from 5,001 inhabitants to 10,000 where their mayors cannot earn more than 45,000 euros per annum; from 10,001 to 20,000 people, where the mayor's maximum salary will be set at 50,000 euros a year, or from 20,001 to 50,000 inhabitants which means an upper limit on wages of 55,000 euros annually.

In villages of 1,000 or more up to a maximum of 5,000 residents, the mayor cannot be paid more than 40,000 euros a year.

For small villages and hamlets with their own 'town' council and fewer than 1,000 people on the census, the law states that the job of mayor will not be full-time.

Where they work half their hours in office, they can earn up to 22,000 euros a year and for those who work three-quarters of the week as a mayor, 30,000 euros.

Those who only spent 25 to 49 per cent of their time cannot earn more than 15,000 euros a year.

If the job means even fewer hours, it is likely the mayor will only be paid expenses for attending meetings.

In many small towns and villages, the mayor normally has another day-job or owns a business and only spends part of his or her time running council affairs.

Photograph: The city hall in Valencia, Spain's third-largest city after Madrid and Barcelona