Pay of Police and Border Guard chief performs powerful leap

Photo: Peeter Langovits / Postimees

Among director-generals of other state agencies, Elmar Vaher at helm of Police and Border Guard Board (PBGB) sees biggest twelve month wage rise and performance pay.

Due to meagre wages paid to policemen, it is not considered good practice at PBGB for chiefs to receive performance pay and awards. Even so, PBGB director general Elmar Vaher received performance pay of €3,900 i.e. a monthly salary worth of performance pay at end of last year. At the start of this year, €400 a month was added to his salary.

The wage rise and performance pay were determined by previous interior minister Ken-Marti Vaher (IRL) who after the scandalous PBGB director-general competition last year appointed Elmar Vaher.  

According to the former interior minister, the new PBGB director general has introduced changes by which taxpayer money is economised hundreds of times more than the award in question. «Promptly, after entering office, he grabbed the bull by horns and, as top manager, created noticeable added value which was worthy of specific acknowledgement,» said the ex-minister.

Mr Vaher specified: last year, the new director-general swiftly established a new leadership team at PBGB, set clear goals and requirements for the team, initiated changes with and optimising of working procedures in border guard, criminal police, and law and order. After the new director-general entered office, several department heads have been changed, dozens of employees laid off.

PBGB director general Elmar Vaher claimed he did not know exactly why the former interior minister increased his pay. «We did have some evaluations and discussions, and thus the minister decided.» Neither did Mr Vaher know why he was granter performance pay.

«It’s nice to get an award of course, but I would not conceal the fact that I have submitted an application for that award not to be handed out,» said Mr Vaher, not considering it right to be paid extra for performance. «If a policeman’s work and his activities are heroic and self-sacrificing, then a leader may opt to award. I am not endangering my life at work,» he added.

The former minister did not answer the question whether Elmar Vaher expressed desire to waive the performance pay. He noted that paying extra to director-general is for the boss i.e. the minister to decide.

The current interior minister Hanno Pevkur (Reform Party) underlined, when commenting the director-general’s wage rise and performance pay, that with over 5,000 of staff, PBGB is the largest public agency in Estonia.

«If a person heads such a large public agency, and as realising his responsibility leading such a large organisation and guaranteeing security, then it’s important to pay competitive salary to a person like that,» thinks Mr Pevkur.

According to him, the ministry in cooperation with PBGB is striving to raise salaries for lower wage-level policemen. As also stated formerly by Mr Vaher, the PBGB chief, people employed as policemen straight from Academy of Security Sciences ought to at least be paid the Estonian average.

Among director-generals of state agencies, wages higher than that of Elmar Vaher are the lot of Road Administration director general Aivo Adamson who gets €5,000 a month – at times drawing public limelight.

In other agencies, basic wages for director-generals are lower at least by a third; for the past year, their wage rise usually has amounted to five to ten percent. For some, the salary has stayed the same.

Even so, many a director-general did pocket variable pay to the tune of one month’s salary, last year.