Kassab is lying about his R$20 salary or...
... he has no money problem; after all, he told the State that the information that his salary was R$ 20.042,33/month was wrong; but...
247 - Mayor Gilberto Kassab seems to have no money problems. This is evident from the fact that, as he said yesterday, he doesn't even know exactly how much his salary is as mayor of the São Paulo capital. Either that, or he simply tried, unsuccessfully, to disguise a recent 62% salary increase.
The fact is that Kassab received a raise in February that increased his remuneration from R$ 12.384,00 to the current R$ 20.042,33. There is an intention on the part of the president of the City Council, José Police Neto, to promote a new salary increase for Kassab and his secretaries. This may have embarrassed the mayor in admitting that, four months ago, he had already been granted a 62% increase – a rate that no professional category in Brazil has received for a long time.
Information regarding the mayor's salary is available on the website De Olhos nas Contas (http://deolhonascontas.prefeitura.sp.gov.br/). However, the information that he barely knows how much he earns, or lied about it to try and hide the recent 62% raise, is included in today's edition of the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo (page C5).
Yesterday morning, reporters from Estadão questioned the mayor about the raise. His response was negative: “It must be some mistake, because this isn't the correct remuneration. It's definitely wrong, I can say that,” said Kassab. He left the matter to his advisors who, that evening, confirmed to the newspaper that the mayor did indeed receive the 62% raise and his current salary is, in fact, R$ 20.042,33.
As if that weren't enough, there are plans in the City Council for another massive raise for the mayor and his secretaries. Below is a news report from Brasil 247 published a few days ago about this:
247 - A report by journalist Diego Zanchetta, published in O Estado de S. Paulo today, reveals a grand gift from the city councilors of the country's largest city to Mayor Gilberto Kassab and his secretaries. The same City Council that hasn't voted on the São Paulo Master Plan – the main set of rules and regulations for guiding the capital's growth – since 2006 is about to grant Kassab an almost 100% increase in his salary and a 250% increase in the monthly remuneration of the municipal secretaries. The proposal originated from the Board of Directors, presided over by Kassab's supporter, councilor José Police Neto.
"The proposed salaries are commensurate with the managerial responsibilities that these people perform," said Police Neto, currently without a party affiliation, but openly pro-Kassab in his work in the Chamber of Deputies.
Speaking of managerial responsibilities, last year – and valid for 2011 and 2012 – the City Council granted a salary increase to teachers in the municipal school system. The readjustment rate was set at 28,41%, divided into 8,69% installments over each of the three years of the agreement. Thus, a municipal teacher working 30 hours a week started earning R$ 1.650,00 in July of last year – and next month, they will receive an 8,69% readjustment. For the mayor and council members, however, without installments or further delays, the increases, as we have seen, will be 100% and 250%.