Ladysmith Council, with the exception of Steve Arnett, has accepted a raise recommended by a select committee to its Jan 18 meeting.
The select committee, established March 16 to consider how much the mayor and council should be paid and what benefits they should receive, said it’s always difficult for municipal governments to vote themselves an increase.
“The committee members wish to acknowledge that the remuneration of council is always a controversial topic,” said the introductory paragraph of their report.
But the four members, which included Mike Hooper, Jan Christenson, Renee Hutchinson and Coun. Rob Hutchins, recommended – retroactive to July 1, 2015:
• Mayor Aaron Stone be paid $30,515 annually;
• The six councillors be paid $14,475.
Council accepted the increase, but decided against making it retroactive to July 1, instead making it effective Jan. 1, 2016.
Coun. Arnett objected, arguing that councilors knew what their compensation was to be when they took on their positions, and should not be awarding themselves an increase part way through their term.
“I will be voting against this, and if it goes ahead I will not be accepting the money,” he said during debate on the select committee’s recommendations.
He indicated any increase he received should be added to the grants in aid category of the municipal budget, funding that community groups apply for from the Town of Ladysmith.
The last time mayor and council received a raise was Jan. 1 2014, when the mayor’s remuneration was pegged at $24,172, councilors $12,172.
That was the final increment in a three year annual increase of the mayor’s remuneration from $20,677, and councillors from $9,466, which was adopted Dec. 19, 2011.
The select committee recommended that council’s remuneration be maintained “at a minimum ‘average’ for their peers and that the compensation include provision for regularly scheduled increases to keep pace with inflation.”
During the select committee’s presentation Renee Hutchinson said it’s important to make it possible for citizens to put themselves forward for positions on council by making it affordable for them.
“We don’t just want the people who can afford to be on council to be on council,” she argued, noting that, “Everybody I talked to agreed it was a good thing to pay the people for the work they do (on council).”
Jan Christensen expressed a balancing perspective. “I don’t want people sitting here for the money,” she said. “You want people to be here because they want to be here, not because they want ‘X’ number of dollars in their jeans.”
Future calculations of council’s compensation should be pegged “at the ‘average’ of similar sized communities,” the report recommends.
While the select committee did not recommend a change in council’s benefits package, it called for a review to be completed by Sept. 2016.
It also called for a review of the $50 per diem rate available to council members, who are conducting municipal business. “It appears that the current level dates back to before 2001,” states the select committee report.
