In response to Mr. Hegler’s recent letter in The Morning Star and concerns about my expenses, I am providing here an explanation of the total number of meetings I attended and reasons for them. As I have already stated, “I make no apologies for trying to be better informed, in order to make better decisions.” Displayed on my web page: www.besso.ca, there is a chart listing remuneration amounts for Greater Vernon politicians. The chart speaks for itself: In terms of expenses as well as total remuneration, I am fifth from the bottom in relation to the others.
In 2010, I attended 196 meetings. Most of these meetings are two hours or more, plus preparation time before, and follow up time after. Of these meetings, 41 qualified for the $131.68 meeting pay, 151 meetings did not.
The (Regional District) RDNO and (Greater Vernon) GVAC meetings are often long, and have important presentations from staff and public on parks and water. For Coldstream taxpayers, RDNO and GVAC taxes represent 30 per cent of our total tax bill. That is equivalent to 62 per cent of the dollar value we pay for the municipal Coldstream taxes portion of our tax bill. The one designated Coldstream rep. on RDNO has a large responsibility, and does a great job, but often another set of eyes and ears helps for more informed discussions and decision making at our council meetings. You cannot capture all the information in the minutes and a five-minute summary.
Coldstream’s remuneration policy encourages councillors who can, to attend and be better informed on regional and Greater Vernon issues. I am the alternate for the Greater Vernon Parks Review, and need to be well informed to protect Coldstream’s taxpayer’s interests.
As for the Regional Library (ORL), it has been a very busy year, in great part because they are building the new Vernon branch. I made many trips to attend meetings in Kelowna for the Vernon Building Committee, plus I sit on the Library Finance, and Strategic Planning Committees. Further I attend four ORL Board meetings per year. On top of the 17 meetings in 2010, I was compensated in 2010 for eight ORL meetings from 2009 because I had never put in for pay for those meetings. The reason I had not put in for any meeting pay until September 2010, is that until then I was unaware of the Coldstream policy to compensate the rep. for those meetings, and I had been innocently attending for free.
Perhaps this clarification can help explain to you and the electorate, Mr. Hegler, why my wages at $15,996 may seem high compared to Councillor Cochrane’s $8,885. As for my 2010 expenses of $3,360, these are calculated as the expenses attributed to me for attending meetings or conferences sanctioned by council.
For 2010 these were: a one-day transportation meeting in Kelowna; a 3.5 day Southern Interior Local Government’s Association Conference, and a 3.5 day Union of B.C. Municipalities Conference. These expenses include the ‘Conference Fees’, and the ‘accommodation fees’, a 52 cents per km mileage charge, and a $100 per diem for any other expenses. There is no meeting pay for these meetings. Councillors who have a regular job or business, have to take time off work to attend, and therefore, it actually costs them money. This is the reason why my ‘expenses’ appear higher than the mayor’s; I do not have to take time off from a business or work in order to attend, so when I am sent to a conference I am able to attend the full time in order to acquire the most information and knowledge and take it back to my council for the benefit of the taxpayer. In my case I give of my time, and expertise, and that can be more precious than money. But I should mention that my time is not free, I too have other things I could be doing with my time.
Now you may wonder why my fellow Councillors, Enns and Cochrane, actually defended my salary and expenses. I believe the reason is because they know and value how much work I do, and they realize that it is beneficial and necessary for Coldstream to be represented at these conferences (witness the Grid Road funding, Hwy 6 improvement funding, meeting and networking with other elected officials and ministry staff). Our council works as a team, some of us offer expertise, some of us offer our time, some offer wisdom, it is all a balance.
I know that there have been some politicians who have abused expense accounts, meeting pay and perks. I am not one of them. I welcome it when the public holds those people to account. For my part, I know that my council has full knowledge and support for all the meetings and conferences that I attended. Mr. Hegler, I offer no apologies because I have a clear conscience. If you think you can offer better value to the voters, I would welcome you running on that platform at the next election.
Maria Besso,
Coldstream Councillor
