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Committee recommends pay raise for County of Barrhead councillors

Elected Officials Remuneration Advisory Committee (EORAC) recommends ‘phased-in’ increases to base salary, per diems
EORAC Presentation
Tracy Grabler, Shelley Pusch and Jennifer Kalmbach — all members of the Elected Officials Remuneration Advisory Committee (EORAC) — made a presentation to County of Barrhead councillors on Nov. 19. The committee was established to review whether or not county councillors should receive a salary increase following the loss of their federal tax exemption for one-third of their compensation.

BARRHEAD - The independent committee tasked with examining whether or not County of Barrhead councillors should receive a salary raise has recommended a “phased-in” cumulative increase of 14.2 per cent to each councillor’s salary and per diem, paired with a slightly smaller 12.7 per cent increase for the deputy reeve and 11.6 per cent for the reeve.

That was the summary of the final recommendations made by the Elected Officials Remuneration Advisory Committee (EORAC), which delivered a presentation to county councillors at their Nov. 19 meeting.

Council did not make a decision on the recommendations at that meeting, only passing a motion to accept the EORAC report for information.

Currently, the 2019 budget calls for each councillor to receive total compensation (base monthly salary plus per diems) of $31,710, while the deputy reeve and reeve receive $37,644 and $43,579 respectively due to their added responsibilities.

The proposed increase would raise each councillor's total compensation to a maximum of $36,204 (which includes $21,756 in per diems), while the deputy reeve and reeve's compensation would increase to a maximum of $42,420 and $48,636 respecitvely. In other words, each councillor would receive a pay increase of $4,494, while the deputy reeve would get an extra $4,776 and the reeve would receive an additional $5,057.

EORAC was established to head a review of councillor compensation following the loss of the “one-third” federal tax exemption for elected officials as a result of Bill C-44.

Prior to the bill’s passage in 2017, one third of salary paid to councillors was non-taxable.

The three members of the committee — Tracy Grabler, Shelley Pusch and Jennifer Kalmbach — had to meet a number of criteria in order to serve. These included previous board and governance experience; skills in business, finance and/or human resources; not being related to a councillor and not being employed by the county or one of the councillors.

EORAC analyzed a great deal of data as part of their review, including information on past salary and per diem changes, what councillors received for expenses and allowances, and 2018 data/information from 21 rural and urban municipalities, including those counties and towns closest to Barrhead.

They acknowledged some challenges in using this data, as there was a lack of correlation between population, tax assessment and budgets. There were also some incomplete data sets and some municipalities used different methods for compensating elected officials.

Based on these comparators, the EORAC found that the compensation for county councillors falls below the 10th percentile. The reeve’s salary was 11.6 per cent lower than the market P10, while councillor salary was 22 per cent lower than the market P10.

Pusch, who chaired the EORAC, noted that percentiles are a common practice used in compensation reviews and analysis.

EORAC found that, after applying a two per cent Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) to councillors’ 2019 salary as a starting point, the monthly base salary paid to councillors should be adjusted from $911.53 per month to $1,204 per month. That includes a 10 per cent adjustment for the loss of the one-third tax exemption.

Interestingly, the committee recommended that the per diems be adjusted to a 50th percentile level, noting that the more meetings a councillor attends, the more they will be paid.

That would actually mean an intiail 4.9 per cent reduction in their per diem, followed by a 10 per cent increase for the loss of their tax exemption. As a result, EORAC recommended the per diem be adjusted by only 4.7 per cent over their 2019 rate, increasing from $247.28 to $259 per day.

The reeve and deputy reeve receive an additional monthly allowance due to their higher time commitment. EORAC found that the reeve’s monthly base salary should be adjusted from $989.12 to $1,036 per month, while the deputy reeve’s monthly base salary should be adjusted from $494.56 per month to $518 per month.

It should be noted that the County of Barrhead would still be on the conservative side in terms of what other municipalities pay their councillors. In 2018, for instance, Westlock County paid its reeve an annual compensation of $47,721 and each councillor $44,519.

As for the non-salary items that councillors receive, such as mileage rates, meal rates and the $500 per term allowance for electronic devices, EORAC recommended no changes.

However, the committee did suggest that the county look at a possible pension for councillors in the future “because a pension can be a support towards attracting councillors across all age demographics,” Pusch noted.

To balance against the county’s current fiscal challenges, the committee also recommended a “phased-in” approach to implementing salary increases, with the increases being implemented no sooner than 2020.

They also recommended to continue applying cost of living adjustments to remuneration rates and considering a periodic review of remuneration every three to five years. As well, they suggested reviewing the time commitments for the reeve and deputy reeve to determine if the compensation for the additional time requirements is fair.

After their presentation, councillors thanked the members of EORAC for their comprehensive work.

“This (report) is quite impressive. This looks like something that … an accounting firm would have cranked out at the cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars,” said reeve Doug Drozd.

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