Some five hundred employees of Yerevan’s Department of Greening and Environmental Protection have been awarded bonuses amounting to 50% of their monthly salaries.

These salaries average 110,000 drams (US$285) monthly.

Department Director Armen Begoyan, a ruling Civil Contract candidate in next week’s election for the Yerevan Municipal Council, told Hetq that most of the bonus recipients are gardeners and that he’s doing his best to increase their wages.

He rejected any notion that the timing of the bonuses has anything to do with the municipal elections scheduled for September 17.

Many of the "gardeners" he refers to are the middle-aged men and women one sees sweeping Yerevan parks, planting flowers, and removing debris.

“Let me answer clearly, no. Almost every quarter, due to the low salary, bonuses are provided to compensate a little for the low salary of these people and of course also for the titanic work done by these people,” Begoyan told Hetq, confirming that it’s up to him to issue such bonuses.

He said that while he can’t raise their salaries, he’d issue monthly bonuses if the money was available.

“When that money is not available, I turn to the municipality for the same reason, asking it to allocate additional money to pay a reward for the good work done,” Begoyan told Hetq.

When asked if the latest round of bonuses was paid with money from his department or the municipality, Begoyan claimed he couldn’t specify.

“I cannot say. I am on forced vacation according to the law since I’m on the ballot for the municipal council. I’m also campaigning. I am very busy. I always try to find funds or ask the municipality to give these people some gratuity, because I believe that if I had the chance, I would give some amount of gratuity to those people almost every month.”

Surprisingly, Begoyan couldn’t even confirm if the bonuses were paid at all, again arguing he’s on vacation.

When Hetq assured him that workers have received the bonuses, Begoyan said his temporary replacement must have signed off on the decision to pay those “poor workers, those gardeners.”