Greenwood city council is debating hiking their salaries to retroactively kick in as of Jan. 1, 2020.
In the draft bylaw, which was presented at a Feb. 10 council meeting, the mayor’s proposed salary would jump nearly 19 per cent, from around $9,000 to $10,680 for the year, before increasing for a “cost of living expense” in 2021. Likewise, city councilors’ salaries would jump nearly 40 per cent, from $5,400 to $7,500 for 2020, before rising with the same cost of living expense in 2021.
No percentage has been outlined for the 2021 raise, though the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) recommends basing such salary adjustments off of the previous year’s Consumer Price Index.
The UBCM also recommends that changes to a council’s base-level salary ought to take effect at the beginning of the following term, but could be changed to “protect elected officials from financial loss that would otherwise occur as a result of tax system shifts.”
