WESTLOCK – The Town of Westlock’s freshly-updated remuneration policy for the mayor and councillors includes no change to their honorariums in 2023, although their per diems will rise and they may still receive a modest cost-of-living allowance (COLA) bump that won’t be finalized until next year’s budget is passed.
At their Dec. 12 meeting, town councillors voted 6-0 (Coun. Curtis Snell was absent) to approve the five-page Mayor and Council Remuneration Policy P-57-2014, a document the municipality has been working on since the spring and was most-recently reviewed at their Nov. 21 committee of the whole meeting — the policy, which comes into force Jan. 1, 2023, won’t be back in front of council for review until 2026.
“There are some minor changes that we’re making, but in terms of some of the monetary values, we found that we were quite comparable to a lot of contemporaries we had looked at,” said CAO Simone Wiley.
Mayor Ralph Leriger said coming out of the pandemic they wanted to address “policies colliding” noting this document and the entertainment and hospitality policy contradicted each other. He also said they tried to address the “Zoom meeting phenomena” that occurred during COVID-19 as the policy was written “long before that technology was even available.”
“But we also wanted to make comparisons with our contemporaries and ensure that our remuneration was line with them. I think administration did a great job gathering that information for the committee which included myself, Coun. Snell and Coun. (Jon) Kramer,” said Leriger.
“At the end of the day I would add that council, all-in as a line item that reflects our wages, per diems, expenses, elections, council grants … anything council related is just slightly south of two per cent of our overall budget. So, it’s my take that I know how hard all of the citizens work and it’s important they receive good value for their dollar.”
What they earn
While the honoraria rates remain frozen — the mayor earns $1,399.28 bi-weekly, while councillors collect $886.56 bi-weekly — there may be a slight jump as that figure will be consistent with the non-union staff approved COLA increase to be determined when the budget is finalized.
Meanwhile, special meetings have been removed from honoraria and put into the per diem section, while all other meetings previously noted within honoraria will remain and “clarity” was added to the “in-town” and “out of town” references within the policy.
Councillor per diem rates will increase from $202.40 per day for a meeting of four hours or more, to $260 per day, roughly 28 per cent, and from $151.80 per day for a meeting of less than four hours, to $160 per day, which is about a five per cent increase — per diem rates, like honoraria, may also rise in 2023 if there’s a COLA increase.
Meanwhile, the section that noted a resolution was required for a councillor to attend certain events or conferences was re-worded, as were the “travel-car” and “meal allowance” sections to match the verbiage of the Travel, Hospitality & Expense Reimbursement Policy. The personal expense amount of $10 per 24-hour period spent travelling on town business has increased to $20 per 24-hour period and each councillor will now also receive $50 monthly as a communication allowance.
The council health benefits program section was re-worded to ensure councillors are aware they are entitled to a up to $500 annually towards a health spending account, as well as a 30 per cent discount yearly on either a single, or family facility pass.
Policy background
In the request for decision (RFD) to council, administration noted that at the May 9, 2022, town meeting a Council Remuneration Task Force was formed to review the policy and included the mayor, two councillors, Wiley and the municipal clerk.
At a minimum, the task force was to review “honoraria and per diem rates” and what was included within each, while also examining the telephone section within the policy as it was “outdated.” It was also suggested that the group “research the possibility of individual expense accounts and maternity/ paternity/extended leave.”
Administration first polled 20 municipalities with populations ranging from 1,300 to just over 10,000 and narrowed down the scope to Barrhead, Didsbury, Stettler, St. Paul and Westlock County.
Next, benefits and honorariums, along with the duties and expectations of councillors was compared, as were the number of times each municipality met and the type of meetings. Per diems were also compared as were whether resolutions were required for councillors to attend out-of-town events or conferences not pertaining to their committee appointments.
“At the end of the day that comparison says that our honoraria rate is right where it should be when we look at our contemporaries,” added Leriger.
