Sarandi (RS): mayor defends adjustment in budget transfers to comply with the nursing floor

The definition of a higher salary floor for professionals in the nursing area brought challenges to city halls across the country. Since the signing of the National Congress Bill (PLN) that regulates the minimum salary for nursing professionals, which ranges from R$2,300 to R$4,700, municipal managers have become apprehensive about local coffers.

The mayor of Sarandi (RS), Nilton Debastiani, explains that to cover the costs of the readjustment, the municipality needs a transfer of at least R$ 100,000 per month, R$ 1.2 million per year. The mayor assesses that if there is no transfer of the necessary amount to comply with the readjustment, the municipality will need to adapt with cuts in investments in existing programs.

“We want them to earn this amount, I think they deserve it, but it is part of a context, we have other categories within the municipality as well and they all deserve it, but as long as there is a source to support these expenses”, he completes.

On the last 30th, during a meeting held at the headquarters of the National Confederation of Municipalities (CNM) in Brasília, which discussed the nursing salary floor and was attended by municipal managers from all over the country, the president of the Confederation, Paulo Ziulkoski, he expressed that, although they are not against the readjustment of the floor, the requirement that the city halls finance this increase could bring more difficulties for the municipal budgets.

“I think everyone has to earn well and nurses have to earn. Now, they have to have money to pay. In this period, with a year and a half left to end the mandate, Brazilian municipalities are already exceeding the spending limit in all areas, with a red account. What can be done? If a floor like this comes into force, this crisis deepens”, he says.

The CNM reported that the review of the minimum wage for nurses, technicians and nursing assistants and midwives will generate an increase of R$ 10.5 billion in municipal expenses. PEC 25/2022 is currently stagnant in the House Constitution and Justice Commission (CCJ). The group of mayors is making an effort to persuade parliamentarians to put the proposal on the agenda for voting.