Last week it was announced that mayor and councillor salaries in Quesnel will increase from January 2019.
Part of that (a 12.4 per cent increase for the mayor, and 10.5 per cent for councillors) is to account for the fact that new federal rules mean a portion of their remuneration that used to be tax free, will no longer be so.
But Quesnel’s municipal politicians are also receiving a pay rise – $5,000 a year for the mayor, and $1,750 each for councillors.
There’s been a bit of local chatter that perhaps these pay rises shouldn’t be given. The money, after all, comes from local taxpayers’ pockets.
But if you think about the work done by these folks – and the hours spent researching, thinking about, promoting and working for this community – the increases seem more than fair.
The mayor’s current salary is $44,300. The $5,000 increase will take that to $49,000, plus the boost to make up for the formerly tax free portion – in total the mayor will receive an estimated gross income of $56,294. If the mayor worked about 40 hours a week, he’d receive $27 an hour on this wage. (His previous wage would equate to about $23 an hour for 40 hours full time).
According to Statistics Canada, the average hourly salary for people working full time in British Columbia is $27.41. Our mayor’s salary is in line with the provincial average, then.
But we’d wager a guess that the mayor works more than 40 hours a week. Which means this hourly wage is actually probably much lower. Anecdotally, the current mayor tells the Observer that he indeed often works 12-14 hour days. Technically, the mayor is compensated on a “half time” basis. Is that possible? And, going forward, don’t we want to attract people who can put in the time needed to make this city a great place to live? Why not pay them a living wage to do so?
Similarly, the current Quesnel councillors’ salary is $15,200. Although being a councillor is not a full time job, it does require a significant time investment to get to know all the issues, attend meetings, keep up with local concerns. With the additional $1,750 plus the increase for tax, councillors will see an estimated gross annual pay of $19,054.
So yeah, the increases this year are more than inflation. They are more than just to compensate for the tax changes.
But being mayor or councillor of a city requires time, brain power, drive and significant effort. It means giving up free time. It means postponing vacations if something important arises. It means being available almost around the clock.
The jobs of mayor and councillor are some of the most responsible positions in our community. Shouldn’t the few who put their names forward for such an unforgiving task be compensated?
–Quesnel Cariboo Observer
