By Fiona Benson Kollie
Nimba County Electoral District #2 Representative, Nyan G. Flomo, has submitted to the plenary of the House a proposal seeking to stablish a national ceiling on remuneration (money) for county councils.
The Flomo’s proposal is in keeping with the Local Government Act of 2018.
His submission was raised due to concerns about growing disparities in compensation among county councils due to unequal county revenue bases and budgetary capacities.
In his submission, Flomo referenced section 2.9 of the Local Government Act of 2018, which mandates the legislature to set a ceiling on honoraria (stipends) paid to county council members every four years.
He further noted that the absence of a nationally defined ceiling, has resulted in inequitable, and unsustainable remuneration patterns in the 15 counties, despite county councils having identical statutory responsibilities.
To address this challenge, Rep. Flomo proposed a formula-based national ceiling, recommending that the total annual remuneration of any county council should not exceed five percent of the county’s approved annual county fiscal development budget.
He also argued that this approach would promote fiscal discipline, prevent administrative costs from crowding out development projects, and ensure nationwide equity while respecting differences in county budget sizes.
Following the reading of the communication plenary agreed that the proposal raises important issues of fiscal governance, decentralization, and inter-county equity, and therefore mandated the relevant committees to review the matter, and report back with findings and recommendations.
Meanwhile, the communication was forwarded to its committees on Local Government and Ways, Means and Finance to report in two weeks.
In a related development, the House has recommitted it leadership to strengthen decentralization framework by ensuring transparency, fairness, and sustainability in local governance.