Rescuers' salaries to go up 20 percent, police's 10 percent
In 2019 the salary of rescuers is to rise by nearly 20 percent and the pay of police officers and border guards by 10 percent.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, the salaries of domestic security workers got an additional €20 million in budget strategy talks.
Interior Minister Andres Anvelt (SDE) said on Monday in the Riigikogu that the raise of rescuers' salaries is "a historic breakthrough". He added that in the future, the salaries of rescuers will increase gradually, so that their pay would remain competitive and would motivate people to become and also remain rescuers.
According to Anvelt, the ministry's long-term goal is to bring the Rescue Board out of a budget deficit. While in 2016 an independent audit assessed that in order for the Rescue Board to function sustainably in the next ten years, the additional money needed is €148.7 million, in 2017 the shortage fell to €111 million. The 2018 calculation is still being drawn up.
The minister added that Estonia's domestic security also increases this year due to the number of police officers increasing for the first time in more than ten years.
Editor: Dario Cavegn
Source: BNS
