Skip to content

Councillor compensation recommendations to be included County of Barrhead's 2020 budget

Final decision will be made after seeing the impact it will have on the budget
Bill Lane, March 3-cropped
Although Coun. Bill Lane regrets the timing of councillor compensation discussions he believed they are warranted. Barry Kerton/BL
BARRHEAD-The County of Barrhead is one step closer to deciding whether or not to accept the recommendation of an independent panel to phase-in a salary increase for councillors.

On March 3, councillors voted to incorporate the financial recommendations of the panel into the 2020 budget so they would have an idea of what the increase would have on the county’s finances.

If adopted, it would see their base pay increase by 14. 2 per cent for a councillor and 11.6 and 12.7 per cent for reeve and deputy reeve respectively.

In a separate motion, councillors directed administration to draft an implementation plan to address the non-salary components of the report.

Councillors instructed administration to form the committee as well as create its terms of reference in April 2019 during a discussion on the county’s 2019 operating and capital budgets. In June, they appointed Shelly Pusch, Tracy Grabler and Jennifer Kalmbach to the committee.

Councillors asked for the Elected Officials Remuneration Advisory Committee (EORAC) to be formed due to the federal government’s decision to eliminate the one-third income tax exemption for municipal elected officials, effective Jan. 1, 2019.

The three members of the committee had to meet several criteria 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.

Although the committee gave a presentation to councillors at its Nov. 19 meeting this was the first time councillors had a chance to review the report.

County manager Debbie Oyarzun noted that by incorporating the financial recommendations into the proposed 2020 budget, councillors would have a chance to see the real-world implications and refine them during their budget workshops scheduled for late March.

“Without incorporating it into the budget how are we going to know what the effect is going to be?” she asked.

Currently, councillors receive a base salary of $911.53 a month. Included in this amount is travel within their electoral division, time dealing with constituents’ concerns and cover home office expenses such as cell phone, fax, Internet and assorted office supplies.

Councillors also receive a per diem rate of $247.28 per day for attending meetings (council, predetermined committees) as well as conferences, et cetera.

Councillors receive the full day per diem for any rate an event over four hours. For meetings less than four hours, they receive the half-day per diem of $123.64.

Due to the added time, the reeve and deputy reeve also receive additional compensation (the reeve receives an additional four days per diem while the deputy reeve receives two).

To account for the loss of take-home pay as the result of the federally mandated tax changes and when taking peer compensation from other communities into consideration, the EORAC recommends that councillor base salary, as well as daily per diem rates, be increased to $1,204 a month and $259, respectively.

The committee also recommended that no changes were necessary for councillor’s compensation for mileage (0.54/kilometre) and their meal allowance for events they attend outside the municipality (breakfast $15, lunch $20 and supper $30). It should be noted that mileage includes travel to and from their residence to the county municipal office for council meetings.

The report notes that EORAC took numerous factors into consideration 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.

Oyarzun noted that if council approved the recommendation it would mean the reeve’s overall compensation, not including mileage, would increase by $5,057. The deputy-reeve would see an extra $4,776 while councillors would receive a $4,494 bump.

“That’s budgeted, that doesn’t mean actual,” she said. “So that is the maximum risk.”

Under the current system, administration budgets for 84 days of per diem annually per councillor or seven days a month. Over the last three years, the report notes that the per diems councillors claimed, on average, were 23 per cent lower than budgeted for.

In the 2019 budget, $43,579 was budgeted for the reeve, $37,644 for the deputy reeve and $31,710. The base salary for councillors was set at $14,448 and the maximum per diem at $21,756.

It should be noted that the base salary for the reeve and deputy reeve also includes an additional $12,432 and $6,216, based on the aforementioned extra days of per diem.

The committee also recommended that the base salary and per diems be adjusted to include the annual cost of living adjustments (COLA) and that they are implemented no sooner than 2020. They also recommended councillor compensation be reviewed every three to five years.

Reeve Doug Drozd asked how this decision would be communicated to ratepayers.

“For transparency sake to the community,” he said.

Oyarzun said that would happen through the normal process of approving the budget.

The budget is slated to be presented for council’s consideration in April.

Oyarzun also noted the approved budget, will have a clearly delineated section on councillor compensation in the overview and that document will be available to the public online as well as at the annual ratepayer budget open house on April 14.

Non-salary recommendations

EORAC also recommended that the mileage and meal allowance policies be reviewed when the Government of Alberta adjusts its rates. As well, EORAC recommended that they develop a clear and transparent policiey, separate from municipal employees, that includes a clear definition of salary components and what is eligible.

They also recommended changes to councillor pension contributions in an effort to attract candidates from all age demographics. Currently, the municipality does not contribute to a councillor pension plan.

Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com


Barry Kerton

About the Author: Barry Kerton

Barry Kerton is the managing editor of the Barrhead Leader, joining the paper in 2014. He covers news, municipal politics and sports.
Read more



Comments

push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks