Pembina Hills trustees passed a motion at their Aug. 25 meeting not to make any changes to their monthly honourariums and the compensation paid to employees and trustees for travel and meals.
Each year, the board makes it a practice to review Rates Annex 7 “to make sure that the expenses we’re paying to trustees and staff” are appropriate, said secretary-treasurer Heather Nanninga.
For this year’s review of the rates annex, Nanninga said she did a comparison between Pembina Hills and several other divisions that are close to urban centres but are still a little bit north in Alberta.
These included the Sturgeon, Grande Yellowhead, Buffalo Trail, Wild Rose and Northern Gateway school divisions.
“Our rates are fairly in the middle of the pack. We’re not the highest, we’re not the lowest; we are towards the lower end,” Nanninga said.
For instance, the basic monthly honourarium paid to trustees ($485) is lower than what the other divisions charge (except Northern Gateway, which doesn’t pay a monthly stipend).
However, the monthly honourarium paid to the chair and vice chair was higher than Buffalo Trail and Northern Gateway (but not Grande Yellowhead, Sturgeon or Wild Rose).
The per diem for half-day or full-day meetings is squarely in the middle of other divisions, while Pembina Hills’ mileage rate is one to three cents lower than the other divisions.
Board chair Jennifer Tuininga noted that it is important to consider what is included in the honourariums paid by other divisions, as each school board has its own rules about how trustees and staff are compensated.
She added that this type of comparison used to be made available on a regular basis by the Alberta School Boards Association, but they have moved away from doing that.
