ATHABASCA – Trustees for Aspen View Public Schools will see an increase in their compensation for the first time in at least 12 years following their first meeting of the new school year.
Aspen View’s annual organizational meeting took place before the regular meeting Sept. 8 to hold board elections, determine committee appointments and review trustee compensation, which now after several changes sits at $750, in addition to a per diem of $208.18 per full day meeting, which was charged at 1.5, 0.5, or 0.25, depending on the length of the meeting they were attending. The board chair and vice-chair also receive honorariums of $383.88 and $100.
Previously, trustees received a $250 communications fee on top of their per diem. The chair and vice-chair honorariums were the same.
“I think when we start to compare rates around the province, which trustees often do, our monthly communication fee gets a little bit lost some are a little bit unsure what the wording means. My recommendation would be that we would remove that and rename as an honorarium,” said Supt. Neil O’Shea.
With that out of the way, trustees moved on to discuss changes to the new honorarium schedule.
Trustee Anne Karczmarczyk, who was voted to continue as vice-chair earlier in the meeting, said she hasn’t seen a change in compensation since she was first elected to the board in 2016. Trustee Dennis MacNeil, the longest serving member of the board confirmed that, saying he hasn’t seen an increase in his 12 years at the table.
“It has always been deferred,” said Karczmarczyk, adding the board oversees a $43 million budget and is tasked with making very difficult and important decisions. “I know we always decide to avoid this and determine it another time … and unfortunately it’s never a good time.”
Further, she noted rising costs for phone and Internet and inflation in general affecting everything they purchase to perform their duties as elected officials. She added trustees often carpool and added a new 0.25 rate for virtual meetings less than two hours which led to cost savings during the worst of COVID.
Board chair Candy Nikipelo agreed, adding trustees also got into the habit of combining meetings, sometimes up to four in a day.
“We’re very fiscally responsible and we do strive to reduce where and when we can,” she said.
“I believe $500 a month would certainly be appropriate,” Karczmarczyk said, putting forward a motion to adopt the new rate. “No one can say we are in it for money. We are just potentially looking to be compensated for our time and our work. I don't know if anyone could argue that we are overcompensated.”
Trustee April Bauer went on to say that considering the length of time since the last increase, no cost-of-living increases, and Aspen View’s board governance costs compared to other boards, that $750 shouldn’t be out of the question.
“We want to attract people who are willing to spend the time to learn the position and put the effort in and just being passionate about education and understanding the weight of some of the discussions that we do have and the decisions that we make,” said Bauer. “And I think if we do not make the position at least worth their time, we won’t get the quality that we have around the table right now, which I think is important.”
Karczmarczyk’s motion to increase the honorarium to $500 was defeated, then replaced with a motion by Bauer for an increase to $750 and passed unanimously.
