Union of B.C. Municipalities comes up with elected official pay guide
Credit to Author: Jennifer Saltman| Date: Tue, 24 Sep 2019 22:39:13 +0000
Shortly before the municipal election last fall, Nelson’s city council voted to increase their annual pay significantly — by almost $8,000 for councillors and $17,500 for the mayor.
Jesse Woodward, a first-term councillor, believes that raise “totally reinvented” the city’s council.
He said candidates included single mothers, those with young families and people — including himself — in their 30s and 40s, many of whom wouldn’t have been able to afford to serve on council before. Woodward said those who were elected are younger and have more diverse backgrounds than the previous council.
“It’s been quite a shift,” Woodward said. “It’s really changed the politics in Nelson the last year, and I would say from that experience: Pay your councils a bit more, you get a better, broader scope from your populace.”
Woodward was speaking at a Union of B.C. Municipalities (UBCM) convention clinic on Tuesday, where consultant Allan Nielson presented a guide with best practices for elected officials when it comes to dealing with the thorny issue of council and board remuneration.
“As elected officials, you have a lot of different decisions that you need to make; many of them are very difficult,” said Nielson. “This particular decision on remuneration is probably one of the most difficult because there is that kind of inherent perception of conflict of interest.”
At least year’s convention, a resolution was passed that asked the UBCM to look at the issue of remuneration and suggest a process that helps local governments come up with fair and equitable pay for elected officials.
Nielson said there are many reasons why elected officials need to be paid fairly, including the “tremendous” time commitment involved in local politics. He said that those leaving their careers or scaling back in order to be on councils and boards can take financial hits and lose standing at their jobs. The range and seriousness of issues coming to local governments has changed and expanded. He added that pay should not be a barrier to having a pool of candidates who are reflective of residents.
Developing the best-practices guide involved research, surveys and interviews involving local governments from across B.C., as well as looking at what is done in other provinces.
When it comes to reviews, the guide suggests local governments consider using an independent task force to review remuneration, and that reviews take place once per term, but at least one year before an election. The timing for reviews should be set out in policies or bylaws, and any changes to base levels should be implemented at the beginning of the following term.
On pay, it suggests automatic cost-of-living adjustments and immediate implementation of changes that protect officials from financial loss due to tax system shifts. Pay should be based on what officials receive in similar jurisdictions, and at least five jurisdictions should be used for the comparison. Formulas to calculate pay should be straightforward and easy to understand.
There were also a number of policy recommendations around expenses and benefits.
Nielson said any changes should be well-communicated to the public.
“Of course, remuneration is very important to elected officials, and that is understandable. But surprisingly, the importance of it isn’t understood that well by a lot of our electors and some others,” Nielson said.
“We wanted to make the case why local elected officials need to be remunerated fairly and why it’s important to have defensible and fair remuneration packages in place.”
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