The salary of a mayor varies from city to city. It mainly depends on the number of inhabitants in its locality. While the mayor of a small town can only claim a salary of a few hundred euros, that of a large metropolitan city can border on ten thousand euros. The mayor is usually elected by the city council, which itself elected by direct voters. His duties include chairing municipal council meetings, supervising the municipality’s budget and projects, and various administrative tasks. The mayors of large cities have an office established at the town hall, while those of small towns must content themselves with more modest buildings. In the following lines, we will focus on the salary or rather the allowances of mayors.
Although the size of the town may vary, the mayor is still considered the head of a town, managing the affairs and day-to-day administration of that town. The mayor also sets the tone for the culture and future of city operations and acts as the primary spokesperson for city activities. The mayor works with the civil service bodies to pass regulations on municipal taxes and more. He presides over meetings and must sign all official documents.
The mayor is responsible for the promotion and beautification of the city. It is responsible for arts, cultural affairs, parks and recreational activities. If tourism is part of the city’s business plans, the mayor should encourage programs to stimulate this lucrative industry. It must also ensure that the city remains clean and orderly, providing citizens with the opportunity to live a good quality of life and enjoy good health.
As the budgeting executive, the mayor’s duties include hiring businesses for various city activities. This action helps build the city’s tax base and create jobs for citizens. The mayor can attract these companies through tax incentives. The mayor must not, however, make decisions in a vacuum. Instead, it should listen to citizens, staff, businesses and department heads in order to receive feedback on potential changes.
The mayor should work with the city council to develop a budget that matches the city’s revenue. He must present and pass this budget and ensure that the funds are distributed in an appropriate and equitable manner. Each year, the mayor must also oversee the re-budgeting process to ensure that the funds have been used correctly.
Being mayor is hard work. A mayor does not have the same influence and authority as a private sector CEO. Often, mayors need more persuasive skills than decision-making skills to run a city. Therefore, a mayor must have certain intrinsic abilities that will enable him to help the community he leads. A good mayor should only promise what he can control. Although good intentions are laudable, an honest mayor knows that many people are involved in the decision-making process. Thus, making promises on matters over which he has no control will only disillusion the people he leads.
Management is the ability to move other people from point A to point B. Leadership is knowing where point B is. The mayor is the one who gives direction to the community. The best mayors must present a vision for the future and be able to sell this vision to the public. A mayor should have good communication skills, especially the ability to listen, because the hallmark of a good mayor is to sell his vision of the future to others. He must have good persuasive skills in order to convince others to join him in his vision.
Some politicians have a habit of not addressing issues that they think will make them unpopular. That shouldn’t be the case with a good mayor. He should not be afraid to tackle issues affecting the community, regardless of how difficult or unpopular those issues are.
In France, mayors are elected by indirect suffrage. Voters registered on the electoral lists do not vote for an individual, but for a list of people known as the municipal council. The number of people making up the municipal council varies from one municipality to another and depends in particular on the number of inhabitants and the budget allocated to the said municipality. In municipalities with less than 1,000 inhabitants, it is a majority vote, while for larger cities, it is proportional.
Once elected, the municipal councilors elect the mayor, who is usually the head of the list of the list that came first in the ballot. The mayor is elected at the first meeting of the municipal council. To hope to be mayor, candidates must have an absolute majority of votes in the first 2 rounds. If no candidate obtains an absolute majority, a third round is organized and the person with a relative majority wins. If the candidates are equal, then the one who is the oldest wins the ballot.
No level of study or qualification is required to present one’s candidature for the municipal elections. However, you must be over 18 years old and be registered on the electoral list of the municipality where you are applying. The candidate must be French or be a citizen of a member country of the European Union. He must also pay his taxes in this locality. Persons exercising certain functions cannot apply. Their number includes the agents of the commune, the officers of the army, the police, the judges and the prefects.
The salary of a mayor is strictly regulated by law in France. Mayors are therefore not free to set the salary they want. The salary a mayor receives is linked to the importance of his municipality. This salary is in fact linked to the number of inhabitants.
The mayor of a monthly municipality of 500 inhabitants receives a gross monthly salary of €646. A mayor whose municipality has between 500 and 999 inhabitants can expect to receive 1178 euros as gross salary. The one whose municipality has 1000 and 3499 inhabitants has a salary of 1635 €. A municipality whose population is between 3,500 and 9,999 inhabitants can pay a salary of 2,091 euros per month to its mayor. A mayor, whose municipality has between 10,000 and 19,999 inhabitants can claim a monthly salary of 2471 euros. For municipalities whose number of inhabitants is greater than 20,000 inhabitants, but less than 50,000 inhabitants, the mayor will have a salary of 3,421 euros per month. For a population between 50,000 and 99,999 inhabitants, a mayor can earn €4,182. The salary of a mayor whose municipality has 100,000 or more inhabitants is €5,512.
The mayor may decide to waive part or all of his service allowances. In this case, the sum concerned can be transferred to the budget of the municipality or be used to pay a deputy. From a fiscal point of view, the sums paid to the mayors cannot be considered as a salary. The sums he receives are, above all, intended to cover costs such as transport, telephone, consumables and others. For elected officials accumulating several mandates, the different allowances can be added, but within a certain limit. Since February 2017, the total allowances for mayors with multiple mandates (deputy, mayor, etc.) have been capped at one and a half times the sum of the parliamentary allowance, i.e. approximately 8,400 euros, after deduction of compulsory tax contributions.
The salary of a mayor or at least his allowances should be quite substantial because this elected official bears a very large number of responsibilities. He is simultaneously a state agent, judicial agent, civil status officer and judicial police officer. He is primarily responsible for the well-being of the populations he administers. Elected for 6 years, the mayor must ensure that his constituents lack nothing and report to the political authorities. Whether it is a very small village or a large metropolis like Paris or Marseille, mayors must face ever-increasing challenges. It is therefore totally incomprehensible that the salary of a mayor is calculated in proportion to the number of inhabitants of his municipality. What to do with a salary of €646, an amount that is not even the equivalent of the minimum wage? It is urgent to revise the remuneration of these elected officials who brave so many challenges to accomplish tasks which are normally devolved to the State. This wage segregation has lasted too long and it is high time to put an end to it. How to understand that some can afford luxurious cars, while others cannot even afford to buy a donkey with the salary they receive?