During his visit to the talk show, Factor of Maestro, City Council of Georgia member, Aleksandre Elisashvili, talked about the bonuses received by some members of the Council. He explained that the highest bonus at Tbilisi City Council, 300% of the initial wage, was issued under the chairmanship of Irakli Shikhiashvili and that he had already joined the Georgian Dream coalition by that time. According to Mr Elisashvili’s explanation, many Council members and high-ranking officials at the time received significant bonuses upon numerous occasions. As an example, Mr Elisashvili cited Jaba Samushia who, according to his explanation, held the record in the field of bonuses and now occupies the position of Chairman of the Finance and Budgetary Committee.
In 2012, after the government changed, the Georgian Dream coalition quickly managed to obtain a majority in Tbilisi City Council. On 26 July 2013, Irakli Shikhiashvili was elected as City Council Chairman. He became a member of the Council in 2010 within the ranks of the United National Movement and then moved to the Georgian Dream coalition after the government change.
In August 2015, the State Audit Service published its Audit Report on Tbilisi City Council’s finances from 2012 to 2014. The aim of the audit was to determine whether or not the Council’s financial accounting and budgetary expenditures from 2012 to 2014 corresponded to the acting legislation and other regulations. According to the report, Tbilisi City Hall’s 2012-2014 expenditures by its approved budget amounted to GEL 25,388,000 whilst the amount was GEL 30,989,500 according to the corrected budget. The increase in expenditures was mainly due to bonuses, remuneration for freelancers, representation costs and non-financial assets. City Council expenditures included the following points: remuneration, goods and services, social care and others. The indicators reflecting the aforementioned points from 2012 to 2014 look like this:
Chart 1: Dynamics of expenses from 2012 to 2014 (GEL Thousand)
Source: State Audit Service
As the chart makes clear, the remuneration point was on the increase every year, going up by 74% in 2013 (as compared to 2012) and 29% in 2014 (as compared to 2013). The increase in the remuneration point of the budget was mainly due to the following reasons:
Source: State Audit Service
As the chart makes clear, the amount of bonuses distributed at Tbilisi City Council in 2012 was equal to GEL 1,095,900 which constitutes 47.2% of the remuneration part of the budget. In 2013, the amount of bonuses equalled 81.55% of remuneration. In 2014, the amount of bonuses constituted 106.5% of remuneration.
The aforementioned State Audit Service Report explains that the documentation prepared for issuing the bonuses does not make it possible to understand the types of contributions or services for which employees were rewarded with bonuses. In addition, the City Council failed to explain the system used to calculate the actual bonus amounts.
According to the report, an especially high amount of bonuses, as compared to remuneration, was distributed in the following time periods:
Source: State Audit Service
As the chart makes clear, the remuneration point was on the increase every year, going up by 74% in 2013 (as compared to 2012) and 29% in 2014 (as compared to 2013). The increase in the remuneration point of the budget was mainly due to the following reasons:
- Increased wages for employees;
- Increased amount of bonuses;
- Increased number of administration employees;
- Increased number of City Council factions.
Source: State Audit Service
As the chart makes clear, the amount of bonuses distributed at Tbilisi City Council in 2012 was equal to GEL 1,095,900 which constitutes 47.2% of the remuneration part of the budget. In 2013, the amount of bonuses equalled 81.55% of remuneration. In 2014, the amount of bonuses constituted 106.5% of remuneration.
The aforementioned State Audit Service Report explains that the documentation prepared for issuing the bonuses does not make it possible to understand the types of contributions or services for which employees were rewarded with bonuses. In addition, the City Council failed to explain the system used to calculate the actual bonus amounts.
According to the report, an especially high amount of bonuses, as compared to remuneration, was distributed in the following time periods:
- December 2012 – bonuses constituting 150% of remuneration were distributed to high-ranking officials whilst this was 18% for administration employees (a total of GEL 384.8 thousand);
- November 2013 – bonuses constituting 160% of remuneration were distributed to high-ranking officials whilst this was 130% for administration employees (a total of GEL 469.4 thousand);
- December 2013 – bonuses constituting 230% of remuneration were distributed to high-ranking officials whilst this was 215% for administration employees (a total of GEL 737.7 thousand);
- March 2014 – bonuses constituting 300% of remuneration were distributed to both high-ranking officials as well as administration employees (a total of GEL 889.3 thousand);
- April 2014 – bonuses constituting 300% of remuneration were distributed to both high-ranking officials as well as administration employees (a total of GEL 1,026.6 thousand);
- June 2014 – bonuses constituting 300.5% of remuneration were distributed to high-ranking officials whilst this was 210% for administration employees (a total of GEL 774.1 thousand).
Tags:
