Committee Takes First Step Towards Approving 20 Percent Plus Pay Increase
It what could turn into an election issue Executive Committee has approved the majority of a remuneration panel's report which will see pay increases of 21.6 percent for the Mayor and 28.5 percent to Councillors commencing after this November’s civic election.
The new remuneration scheme will see the Mayor's annual salary move from the present $79,108 to $100,068 and councillors moving from $24,918 to $33,323 annually.
The new remuneration will be based on the mayor receiving remuneration equivalent to what is paid to an MLA and councillors being paid 33.3 percent of the mayor's remuneration.
Panel Presentation
Speaking to Executive Committee panel member Greg McIntyre said the three member panel took an objective approach to the remuneration review and were not swayed by emotion and bias.
McIntyre said the panel's goal was “to make this as vanilla” to any mayor and council member of the future.
He said the panel's look into what other communities pay their elected officials helped demonstrate Moose Jaw is not compensating their elected officials appropriately.
“It appears our compensation compared to other peer communities has been lacking when it comes to mayor and council.”
The panel consisting of McIntyre (the Moose Jaw and District Chamber's panel appointee), Brenda Berry (Moose Jaw and District Labour Council appointee) and panel chair Myron Gulka-Teichko (City of Moose Jaw Clerk/Solicitor) met on eight separate occasions to arrive at their 17 recommendations.
It needs to be noted both the Chamber of Commerce and Labour Council are lobby groups advocating on their respective members' behalf. There were no independent citizen panel members at large.
The panel based its remuneration decision on what a professional manager or skilled tradesperson would be paid.
“There is a good argument for the mayor's compensation to be updated to the equivalent of that of an MLA….it’s consistent with what some of our peers have done.”
McIntyre said given Moose Jaw's population and having two MLAs spoke loudly for mayorality remuneration equivalent to an MLA.
“The services which the City provides are much more impactful as to what the MLAs are…the mayor's role may be in fact more challenging than the MLAs' roles.”
“We don't have to re-invent the formula. The MLA pay goes up we recommend the mayor's pay go up in step. That also implies the councillors move…as well.”
Council Discussion
Councillor Scott McMann said he agreed with tying the mayor's remuneration to an MLA but he expressed concerns about the size of the $4,700 travel and education budget per councillor.
“The amount we budget for each councillor of $4700 (for travel and education) is too much and I don't think in recent times we have had much activity going to those conferences…I think there needs to be an amount of a pool allowing two or three people but that would be outside of recommendations of this,” Councillor McMann stated.
“Remuneration has to be fair and also attract people so we are not just attracting old fuddy duddy retired guys like me. We have to have some younger folks we want to encourage to run for Council.”
Councillor Brian Swanson expressed concerns ordinary citizens input was largely being ignored.
“I could not help but notice a significant majority were not in favour of any increase. I was wondering how you square that with your recommendations?” Councillor Swanson asked.
McIntyre said much of the citizen responses to an on-line survey was “as we expected some of the commentary was negative and not always on point.”
He said the feedback from Chamber members favoured increased remuneration.
“Any input from Chamber members was expanded and fairly well thought out…any feedback we got from them was in favour.”
Later in the debate Councillor Swanson stated his opposition to the remuneration increases.
“I am going to disagree with the direction this is going…I actually think we are compensated in the ball park here. Especially when you look at Moose Jaw's economy relative to (other communities), he said.
“Public life needs to be a sacrifice for it to be valid. It’s not a place where you go and make more money than you have before or you significantly increase your salary with a part time job.
It needs to be a sacrifice and it needs to be reflective of the community.”
Councillor Chris Warren said there was a lot of work being on Council as well as sacrifice.
“It has been well established the amount of time a person puts into carrying out this work and rightfully so this is what we signed up for,” Councillor Warren said. “It's 50, 60, 70 hours a week when you combine it with your regular job…high work equals a decrease in the work/life balance.”
Council members regularly had their names dragged through the mud by media scrutiny as well as social media could harm council members reputations.
He said the work could take an emotional toll on council members and they should have access to the City's employee assistance program.
“With all that being said the high work load and the risk to somebody's reputation could put some stress on someone's mental health.”
Councillor Warren was told council members have access to the service.
Ten Hour A Week Commitment
Arguing against the proposed remuneration increase Councillor Swanson said the amount of time spent was not as large as what was being stated.
The veteran councillor said in his estimation the job was at most 10 hours a week for $2,000 a month.
“I think it is fairly reasonable compensation…I believe we are adequately compensated for what we do.”
Mayor Tolmie said being a councillor was more than a 10 hour per week commitment as Councillor Swanson had claimed.
“To estimate ten hours I highly doubt it. When I was a councillor the number of hours was way more than ten hours a week. So I question what that was based upon.”
Mayor Tolmie delivered a rambling speech about what councillors - except Councillor Swanson - had done above and beyond to serve the community. He spoke about having to attend Council instead of being home with his children.
“So there is a sacrifice. There is a personal sacrifice. That personal sacrifice can’t be mixed with a dollar value.”
Councillor Dawn Luhning also attacked the 10 per week commitment.
“I too want to express how I can ever remember when I didn’t spend 15 to 20 hours (per week) on Council work,” Councillor Luhning stated. “This is not an easy job to fo and we do get dragged through the mud all seven of us for every decision we make.”
COVID - 19 And Final Vote
In her decision not to support the recommendations Councillor Crystal Froese said the COVID - 19 pandemic made it impossible for her remuneration increases at the present time.
“It is difficult for me to support this wholeheartedly at this moment in view of what is going on in our province. across Canada and everywhere else,” Councillor Froese said. “I just really feel like out there nobody else is going to be receiving a 20 percent raise in the midst of this pandemic, private or otherwise.”
It also needs to be noted Councillor Froese's late father was major player over 30 years ago in reducing Council's remuneration. Ironically the politics of that day still sets the tone for Council’s remuneration and size.
In a 5 - 2 vote Executive Committee approved the remuneration recommendations. Mayor Tolmie, Councillors Warren, McMann, Eby and Luhning were in favour and Councillors Swanson and Froese were opposed.
The minutes of the Executive Committee are expected to be part of this coming Monday's (July 13th) meeting and may if any council member requests it re-voted on and further debated.
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EDITORS NOTE - There will be additional stories from or related to this debate coming.
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