The Chisinau Municipal Council will consider a 20 percent wage hike for the teachers working in the city when examining the municipal budget draft for 2008 in second reading. Deputy Mayor Mihai Furtuna has told Info-Prim Neo that this raise will be an exclusive effort of the city authorities and has nothing to do with the Government. This salary increase is supposed to be a bonus to the raises offered this year by the Government. Mihai Furtuna remarked it has been legally possible since 2000 for the municipality to grant this raise, yet the main problem was apparently the shortage of available funds. As it is currently drafted, the municipal budget for 2008 plans expenses for education to amount to 698 million lei, which represents almost half of the municipal money. A 20 percent salary increase for teachers will imply an additional 57-60 million lei for education expenses.