Remuneration was a topic of discussion at the Town of Athabasca council meeting held June 5.
Committee members Dennis Saby, Maurice Gushta, Bernie Giacobbo and Brian Bittorf presented their report to council before deliberations.
Gushta, a former treasurer with Athabasca County, said the main challenge in coming up with the report was being able to make reasonable comparisons with other municipalities.
"Alberta Municipal Affairs has a database that annually releases financial information reports," he said. "I accessed that database, which showed 107 towns within Alberta, so I started with the big picture. One of the ways to compare the municipalities was their population, and another way was the equalized assessment per capita, which essentially is a community's tax base."
Gushta added they wanted to compare the municipalities with the same ability to pay as the other ones listed.
"You do not want to compare yourself with cities like Leduc or Strathcona," Gushta said. "On average, I found it interesting that across the province, equalized assessment per capita on average for Athabasca was $128,000, while the provincial average was $126,000, so the community is right in the middle."
Also in the report was the legislative services per capita.
"That's the cost of council, more than just in terms of wages and benefits, it includes all the cost of supporting council," he continued. "Across the province, it's $58 per capita, but in Athabasca, it's $50 per capita. So where we are is actually quite reasonable."
Gushta added the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association surveyed 71 towns, where populations were very close together.
"Meeting rates for the Town of Athabasca was about $240 per day," he said. "But the mean amount for the rest of the towns was $200. The average remuneration for a town councillor in Athabasca is $14,789, while the AUMA average for the 71 towns is $15,743. The mayor's meeting rate per day is $240 in Athabasca, while it's $212.50 on average."
In terms of audited financial statements, Gushta compared the Town of Athabasca with nine other similar-sized communities.
"The equalized assessment was $362,105,298 for Athabasca, while the average with the nine other communities was $389,053,424," he said. "There were some trade-offs as well. Average salaries for councillors in Athabasca was $17,500, while it was just $14,789 for all the selected councils put together. But neither the mayor nor councillors in Athabasca make any money in benefits, while the average for the rest of the communities was $4,238 and $2,509, respectively."
After the report was read, Mayor Colleen Powell said she was very impressed with the work that went into it.
"What council had asked them to do was find out what communities were similar to us are paying both in base and in committee work, or if they are doing a flat rate," she said. "We then asked them to make a recommendation, and then propose ideas for us to move forward on remuneration."
She says having a remuneration committee come up with these ideas does not cost a lot of money.
"But if council does it themselves, they run the risk of arguing over the smallest details," Powell said. "For that reason alone, it is always worth having people from outside of council get the job done. After all, why should councillors get to decide their own salaries. It should be the people."
All in all, the committee recommended each councillor, as well as the mayor, sees their total remuneration go up by about $100 as of January 2019.
"The committee also recommended if any councillor needs to take a trip somewhere on the town's dime, a resolution is required," Powell said. "I still need to discuss with council about how they feel about this, but I think this is not a bad idea. This policy is not just for this council, but it will be for future councils down the road as well."
In a motion made by Coun. Ida Edwards, council voted unanimously to take time and read over the report before making a final decision on whether to approve it at their June 19 meeting.
"I do not think a better job could have been done on this report," Powell said. "I told everyone to go home and look at it carefully, because the devil really is in the details. While I agree with everything the report said, there may be councillors who do not feel the same ways. And the rules are made by the council, not by the mayor alone."
