Skip to content

Editorial: Pay council more

Community debate over whether City of Powell River council should give itself a raise is sure to be heated; the concept of public servants paying themselves more is never met with blanket taxpayer approval, for reasons that are often unclear.

Community debate over whether City of Powell River council should give itself a raise is sure to be heated; the concept of public servants paying themselves more is never met with blanket taxpayer approval, for reasons that are often unclear.

Elected officials work hard to balance their day jobs with municipal duties that go well beyond long council and committee meetings. Even answering correspondence and public appearances must feel like a full-time job for them sometimes.

In the case of Powell River’s elected city officials, current yearly salaries of $16,485 for a councillor and $41,342 for a mayor are just not enough. (Take a look at some of the city staff’s salaries to put those numbers in perspective.)

Council is in the process of approving a bylaw that will bring council’s remuneration up to a fairer amount, one that is more in line with what Powell River Regional District directors are paid, and falls in the middle of what other comparative municipalities pay their councillors and mayors.

In order to assess how much they should be paid councillors took the average wage of a Powell River resident in 2013, the most recent information available, and settled on 58 per cent of that amount, taking into account that a councillor is expected to work a minimum of 24 hours per week.

As for the mayor, that position entails a minimum of 40 hours per week, making it nearly impossible for the city’s leader to work a job or run a business full time. The sacrifices made and hard work put in by the mayor during a four-year term is well worth the pay increase that council is proposing.

This salary increase of approximately 19 per cent would be council’s first raise above inflationary increases since 2006 and is a modest ask for elected officials who spend way more than the allotted time governing our city. Even paying them 75 per cent of the average resident’s wage would have been acceptable.

By underpaying elected officials we are creating a political system where only the independently wealthy or retired can afford to hold office.

If we set council’s salaries too low, it disqualifies a whole range of qualified candidates for the positions. On the other hand, if remuneration is too high it can create a situation where we might encourage career politicians.

If we truly want council and mayor to represent Powell River residents properly, they need to be paid fairly: not too little and not too much.

The proposed yearly salaries of $19,600 for councillors and $49,000 for the mayor are a move in the right direction.

Jason Schreurs, publisher/editor