GDF guarantees payment of February salaries.

Paula Oliveira, from Agência Brasília - All government employees in the Federal District will have their salaries deposited in full on Friday (6), the fifth working day of this month. The payment refers to February. With the contribution of R$ 174 million from resources from district funds, a maneuver approved last week by the Legislative Chamber, it will not be necessary to divide salaries above R$ 9 in March — unlike what happened in February, when, due to insufficient funds, the government was forced to resort to installment payments. The total cash for personnel payments is currently R$ 1,031 billion, and the payroll to be paid this week totals R$ 1,008 billion. The measure does not involve public security careers, whose employees receive directly from the National Treasury, through the Federal District Constitutional Fund.

"The government's priority is to pay the salaries and expenses related to 2015," said Governor Rodrigo Rollemberg during an announcement at a press conference this afternoon at the Palácio do Buriti. "We are fulfilling our commitment to transparency and regularizing payments when there is money in the treasury," he emphasized. For the coming months, the installment payment of salaries for DF (Federal District) employees who earn above R$ 9 will remain in effect. However, if funds become available, the payment will be made in full again.

Given that less costly solutions for the State are yielding results, the governor has abandoned the plan to anticipate budget revenue (ARO) of R$ 400 million. This measure would have meant the Federal District paying 15% interest this year. The release of these funds, already approved by the Legislative Chamber and sanctioned by the governor in February, was still pending analysis by the National Treasury and the Central Bank.

Health and Education
To pay the outstanding salaries owed to Health and Education employees for 2014, the government of the Federal District is counting on part of the money to be collected during the tax regularization campaign—scheduled for March 18-23—and part of the resources from the district funds released last week for personnel payments. Therefore, the payment plan, which was originally set to end in June, is now expected to conclude in April. "The financial situation in the Federal District is still very serious, and we want everyone's cooperation to overcome this crisis," Rollemberg emphasized.

Refis-DF
The Finance Department presented a bill on February 28th that establishes the Federal District's Tax Regularization Incentive Program (Refis-DF). Besides reducing the outstanding debt by approximately R$ 16 million, the proposal aims to facilitate tax regularization for taxpayers. The expectation is to collect more than R$ 109 million for the Federal District government's coffers in 2015 during this month's campaign.

The expectation is that the matter will be voted on in the Legislative Chamber on Tuesday, the 10th. "I believe we will approve the Refis on Tuesday; we have been talking with opposition parliamentarians and we believe that political disputes have no place in a matter where the biggest beneficiary is the population," said the president of the Legislative Chamber, Celina Leão (PDT), during the press conference at the Palácio do Buriti.

Fiscal Responsibility Law
Regarding the warning issued yesterday by the Federal District Court of Auditors about exceeding the prudential limit for personnel payments imposed by the Fiscal Responsibility Law, the governor emphasized that measures to reduce expenses will continue: "We have already cut spending on appointed officials by R$ 34,5 million in January and February, and we will continue to seek measures to save on personnel and the operating costs of public administration."