Mayor of Tallinn Edgar Savisaar and members of the city government together with the chairman of the city council decided on Thursday not to reinstate an annual vacation allowance for city officials dubbed the 13th pay that was slashed a few years ago as part of austerity measures.
"As in the opinion of the Tallinn City Council deputy chairman Jaak Juske the capital city of Estonia should not remunerate its top executive even to the extent that Tartu and Parnu are paying their mayors, I decided not to make much ado about nothing ahead of the anniversary of the republic," Savisaar was quoted as saying by the city government.
The mayor said on Wednesday the city planned to restore the so-called 13th pay for all employees on the city's payroll, pointing out that it was not a new benefit as the city used to pay a vacation allowance also before the economic downturn.
The daily Eesti Päevaleht reported in its Wednesday edition that under a draft regulation put before the council the mayor, deputy mayors, the chairman of the city council and his deputies would start getting a 13th pay "for restoration of the capacity for work and health."
The draft also proposes to raise from 320 euros to 600 euros a month the compensation paid to these officials for the use of their personal car.
The salary of the chairman of the city council and the mayor is 3,286 euros a month and of the deputy chair and deputy mayors 2,774 euros a month.
Social Democrat Jaak Juske, deputy chairman of the Center Party dominated city council, in his remarks to the newspaper dismissed the "pay to advance one's health" as total foolishness and said he intends to either return the 13th pay into the city budget or hand it out for charitable purposes.