After nine years, regional district directors will see increases in their expenses and have meeting attendance fees converted to annual payments.
Pay is for directors and alternate directors “and for reasonable expenses incurred by the director or alternate director in connection with regional district business,” according to a bylaw approved late last year.
For the first time directors elected directly from rural areas will receive $10,500 in annual pay, directors who represent municipal councils get $5,500 annually and the chair gets $4,000 annually.
This money is paid monthly and will be increased annually at a rate of two per cent.
Additionally, for attendance at regularly scheduled monthly board and committee meetings, the chair will get $600, vice-chair $500 and directors $400, the new bylaw states.
That’s up from the previous bylaw for the chair, whose amount was $535, but the directors’ amount remains the same. The vice-chair wasn’t paid an annual amount in the previous bylaw.
Directors will also be paid the $400 for a monthly or committee meeting they cannot attend if they are at another meeting, attendance at which has been authorized by the board.
This is also new and wasn’t in the previous bylaw.
Alternate directors are to be paid $140 a year plus travel expenses for attendance at two board meetings but where an alternate attends as a director, then the pay is at the director’s full remuneration and travel expense rates.
A meal allowance is included when travel doesn’t include an overnight stay and will be paid in the amount of $17 for breakfast, $20 for lunch and $30 for dinner.
In the previous bylaw, the meal allowance was $15, $18 and $27 for breakfast, lunch and dinner, respectively.
A special meal allowance is used when travel does not include an overnight stay and where part of the trip takes place in the Fraser Valley/Victoria or Whistler and will be paid in the amounts of $20 for breakfast, $25 for lunch and $35 for dinner. The former bylaw had no special meal allowance.
An overnight per diem is for each night away from home and will be paid to cover expenses for meals and other incurred incidentals such as use of phone, photocopying or laundering services and gratuities and will be $77 or, if it’s in the Fraser Valley/Victoria or Whistler will be $90.
In the previous bylaw, the amount was $70 with no special amount for any specific place.
The new mileage allowance is 57 cents per kilometre on paved roads and 75 cents per kilometre on gravel roads.
If the travel is by air, directors are entitled to economy class airfare.
When there’s a choice, an allowance will be paid which is equal to the lesser amount of direct return trip mileage times the mileage rate or round trip economy airfare.
