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Voters slash Lucerne city councillors’ pay

Executive city councillors in Lucerne have to make do with less after citizens approved an initiative to cap their annual pay at 200,000 francs ($203,000) in a vote that wrapped up on Sunday.

Published: 9 March 2015 21:10 CET

Voters slash Lucerne city councillors' pay

Lucerne Mayor Stefan Roth (third from left) with fellow councillors and city clerk. Photo: City of Lucerne

The still hefty wage compares with an average salary of 247,000 francs currently earned by the five city representatives.

Mayor Stefan Roth’s pay — currently around 264,000 francs — will be cut back to 220,000 francs under the initiative spearheaded by the Swiss People’s Party (SVP) and supported by 62.5 percent of voters, the Neue Luzerner Zeitung reported on Monday.

The pay cap still allows for an annual cost-of-living adjustment.

A counter-proposal that would have allowed higher pay was narrowly defeated.

Wages for councillors in Lucerne, a city of just 84,000 people, are at the upper end of what politicians in other Swiss cities are paid.

Indeed, it is roughly on par with what city councillors receive in Zurich, the country's largest metropolis, where voters 15 years ago backed a similar initiative to rein in cadillac salaries, the Neue Luzerner Zeitung said.

The Lucerne city council issued a statement expressing disappointment in the outcome of the initiative, dubbed “200,000 francs is enough”.

Council noted that its members had agreed to voluntarily take a 20,000 franc annual pay cut as a temporary economy measure this year.

It said that the large numbers of citizens in support of the measure were probably influenced by the financial situation of the city and by comparisons with their own wages, “especially in today’s economic situation”.

The council has recently announced “austerity measures” because of financial difficulties, including cutbacks in services, such as street cleaning.

It is not clear when the new pay order will go into effect but the SVP is pushing for implementation later this year.

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How will Switzerland vote in key pensions and nature referendums?

First, here is a reminder about what is at stake in Sunday’s referendum:

Swiss citizens are set to vote on two issues.

One calls for voters to decide whether the second-pillar pension (also referred to as ‘LLP’ and ‘occupational pension’) should be reformed.

The new law would provide for measures to ensure continued funding of future pensions, but critics point out that it would benefit a relatively small number of people and have negative impact on the majority.

You can find out more about what’s at stake here:

READ ALSO: Who would benefit if Switzerland votes for pension reform?

The second initiative calls for more money and more protected areas for preserving Switzerland’s biodiversity.

It seeks to add an article to the constitution mandating cantons and the federal government to increase protection of nature and landscapes that are at risk of disappearing.

Opponents, however, argue that, if accepted, the initiative would render about one-third of land unusable, including for such important purposes as farming, which would, ultimately, limit the production of food and renewable energy.

What is the forecasted outcome of both votes?

According to the latest poll, published by the GFS research institute in Bern on September 11th, both initiatives are likely to be turned down.

What is interesting to note, however, is that an earlier voters’ survey, in August, showed that most people were still undecided about how they would vote, but preferences have become more defined as the referendum inches forward.

“For both subjects, the proportion of ‘no’ votes increased during the campaign, while the proportion of ‘yes’ votes decreased,” the gfs institute noted.

This is not at all an usual evolution because “for an initiative, such a tendency towards ‘no’ votes corresponds to the normal expected case of opinion formation.”

In other words, most voters seem to get familiarised with issues at hand, as well as their repercussions on their lives, closer to the referendum date.

What else did the researchers find?

If the vote were to be held today, “the biodiversity initiative would be rejected.”

That is because “75 percent of those surveyed already have firm voting intentions and opinion formation is already advanced.”

“Overall, a ‘no’ vote on biodiversity is the most likely scenario in September 22nd, 2024.”

Regarding the LPP reform, the ‘yes’ and ‘no’ camps are a bit closer together.

Today, 42 percent would vote in favour of the measure, while 51 percent would turn it down.

Despite the narrower gap, “the ‘no’ trend is practically irreversible, which makes the rejection of the reform the most likely scenario,” according to the institute.

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