Salaries "saved", so they're increasing them: Bar municipal employees to receive maximum coefficients from January

Around 300 employees in the Municipality of Bar will receive increased wages next year, as their salary calculation coefficient will be increased to a maximum of 30, and such a decision will be adopted in mid-January 2026.

This is an agreement that the head of the Municipal Assembly (MA) Branislav Nenezić (SD) made with the president of the local government Dušan Raičević (DPS), after Nenezić requested an amendment to the municipal budget to increase salaries for local government employees.

Nenezić said that an untruth was stated at the previous session of the Municipal Assembly, when the Secretary of the Secretariat for Local Self-Government Svetlana Gažević (DPS) said that the adoption of the amended Decision on the Salaries of Local Officials will not reduce salaries in the Municipality of Bar.

"Considering that we have a record budget, I see no reason why 0,83 percent of that budget should not be allocated to salaries for the people who create this budget," said Nenezić.

He told the councilors that all those employed in companies and institutions founded by the local government or the state have a salary a few hundred times higher than the average municipal employee who "should be at the service of citizens every day."

At the previous session, Gažević said that since the calculation of salaries will be centralized, a model needed to be found by which the existing salaries of employees would be mostly maintained in the amounts they have had so far, according to the current decision and calculation model.

The working team reviewed legal options and determined that this could be done by proposing an increase in the basic salary supplement that already exists for employees' salaries, which was done through that decision.

Nenezić claims that salaries were not saved, but were reduced, so he requested that 603 thousand euros be added to the part of the budget related to gross wages and employer contributions, which would be transferred from the money intended for debt repayment from the previous period.

Since this proposal was accepted, the Municipality will now allocate 6.330.500 euros for gross salaries and contributions in 2026, instead of the planned 5.727.500 euros.

Net earnings will amount to 5.142.000 euros, and taxes will amount to 303.500 euros. Contributions borne by the employee will be 626.500 euros, and those borne by the employer will be 208.500 euros.

Before explaining the amendment, he asked the Finance Secretary Ivana Backović whether the Municipality of Bar has an obligation to repay any debt in the coming year, to which it replied that it does not, with which Nenezić ensured that the transfer of funds from one budget item to another would be possible, but he withdrew it after Raičević proposed that the Municipal Assembly adopt a binding conclusion.

Mayor Raičević supported his proposal and called it justified, but pointed out that the increase could be a maximum of 30 percent compared to the coefficient, which is defined by the Law on Salaries in the Public Sector.

He proposed that the responsible persons be tasked with drafting a proposal to amend the Decision on Salaries in the Municipality of Bar, which would increase the calculation coefficient for all employees to 30, which is the legal maximum. Then, that such a decision be submitted to the Ministry of Finance for comment and that an emergency session of the Assembly be convened in mid-January 2026, at which the matter would be decided.

He specified that those whose coefficient for calculating earnings is 13 or 18 will have it increased to 30, but that those who already have such a coefficient will not have it increased, because the law does not allow it.

Nenezić wrote in the amendment that there are several reasons why it is necessary to increase the salaries of around 300 employees in the Municipality of Bar, who are "the lifeblood of the functioning of local government."

The increase in the cost of living in all segments, inflation and other socio-economic aspects significantly affect the fact that the increase in wages that occurred through the "Europe Now 1" and "Europe Now 2" programs, he stated, has not been realized at full capacity among our fellow citizens, including employees in the Municipality.

"In addition, low salaries for university graduates (engineers, lawyers, economists, etc.) do not make the Municipality of Bar competitive in relation to other institutions, including companies founded by the municipality, and especially in relation to the private sector," said Nenezić, adding that this is particularly evident in the Secretariat for Property and Investments, the local government body responsible for implementing the capital budget, which is headed by a representative of his party. Stefan Šušter.