Despite reservations from some councillors about the lack of direct input, city council unanimously approved in its entirety the final report from the council remuneration review committee (CRRC) Monday night.
The highly anticipated report establishes a mayor’s salary of approximately $90,000 — up from $88,000 — retroactive to Jan. 1, 2011 while eliminating the $1,800 vehicle allowance that goes with it. Councillors will receive 35 per cent of the mayor’s salary, estimated to be $31,500, an increase from $29,500.
But most significantly, the CRRC recommended that the position of council be kept part-time, with the chairs of the committee stating they did not yet see the need to move to a full-time council.
“At this point in time we did not feel it was a full-time position and that might change and that’s why we recommended in the future, let’s take another look and say, ‘Is it now a full-time position?” said chair Nancy Bouchard.
The issue of time devoted to the role of councillor and how the CRRC assessed it drew some critical questions and comments. One particular bone of contention with councillors Roger Lemieux, Cathy Heron and Malcolm Parker were the methods used to collect information. The committee gathered information from comparator communities and conducted a survey in which a plurality of respondents said fulfilling the role of councillor should take 20 to 30 hours a week. There were 40 respondents to the poll, including current members of council.
Lemieux, Heron and Parker all stated the CRRC should have conducted one-on-one interviews to better determine how many hours councillors dedicate to their positions.
“I think the only way you can really understand the activities that members of council are involved in is if you talk to them,” Parker said
Co-chair Rick Sloan said the committee believed in its methodology.
“We spent a significant effort trying to think of how to simplify the administration of what we were trying to accomplish,” Sloan said. “The conclusion of the group was that would be the best way to gather the data that we needed.”
Bracko asked several pointed questions, inquiring if the CRRC considered the fact there are now more committees than there were eight years ago, if they had contemplated how much extra time is devoted to email and social media, and if they had calculated how many hours councillors should devote to their jobs. Sloan said they hadn’t.
“We don’t have a recommendation on how much time should be spent on council duties,” Sloan said.
Bracko later explained he had asked so that anyone running for council in the future would have a better idea of what to expect.
“The number of years will be changed from three to four and I want people who are running … to see the councillor’s time is at least half to three-quarter time minimum. That’s the time you put in.”
Heron said because there were no interviews, there was no chance to discuss an idea she and Lemieux had — appointing one deputy mayor instead of rotating the responsibility throughout councils. The CRRC recommended no extra compensation for deputy mayors because the title shifts. But Heron said some councillors don’t have as much time available as others do to meet all of a deputy mayor’s potential obligations.
“A lot of communities have a deputy mayor,” Heron said.
Coun. Cam MacKay agreed with everything in the report except for the recommendation to tie future increases to the Average Weekly Earnings Alberta (AWEA). Tying increases to that index, which the CRRC argued would eliminate large jumps in remuneration, is still too much. Council heard the last calculated AWEA was estimated at just over five per cent, which would give the mayor a salary increase of more than $4,000.
“That seems to be a little too high,” MacKay said. “This is something you don’t want to have a problem with.”
Mayor Nolan Crouse was pleased with the overall product, especially the recommendation to adopt the changes as a whole instead of letting council “cherry pick” its favourite suggestions.
“Otherwise it looked like we hired you but we didn’t like part of what you did,” Crouse said.
Administration will next bring forward the policies for council approval the report proposes amending. That includes the per diem policy, which councillors must sort out. The committee recommends eliminating per diems altogether, except in “special circumstances.” It left those circumstances to council to define.
“We have to find the people who can take the time away to serve the greater good,” said Crouse, who explained per diems are only paid for work with the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, Alberta Urban Municipalities Association and Capital Region Board.
The committee's recommendations
o The recommendations should be adopted as a whole.<br />o Retroactive to Jan. 1, 2011, the mayor's salary will be $90,000 but there will no longer be a separate vehicle allowance.<br />o The position of councillor will remain part-time. The base remuneration will be $31,500 or 35 per cent of the mayor's salary.<br />o The current health benefit plan should be maintained for those who wish to participate.<br />o Allow matching RRSP contributions to a maximum of three per cent of base remuneration.<br />o Greater clarity needed in application of per diem, professional development policy.<br />o Council members should be provided with the business equipment they need to carry out their duties.<br />o Remuneration should be tied to the Average Weekly Earnings Alberta<br />o A remuneration committee should be appointed every second term.<br />o Approach the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA) to develop a common framework for remuneration.<br />o Update all policies affected by these recommendations.
