By Grant Warkentin
This week city council reviewed a pay raise that won’t kick in until next year.
Every four years, the city reviews salaries for the mayor and council and adjusts them to be in line with market values and other municipalities on Vancouver Island.
“This timing is deliberate, to ensure the outgoing council sets remuneration for the next council rather than determining its own compensation,” said Matt Blouin, the city’s human resources manager, in a report at Tuesday’s meeting.
The staff report proposes an increase for the mayor’s salary that works out to just under 12%, and an increase for councillors that works out to nearly seven per cent over the last approved values. The mayor’s annual salary will be set at $98,600, and councillor salaries will be set at $35,500. The new rates will take effect on January 1, 2027.
Coun. Sean Smyth said the compensation rates don’t reflect the real amount of work done by the mayor and councillors, but added he’s not looking to bump up the rates.
Coun. Ron Kerr agreed, pointing out the role has traditionally been viewed as a volunteer position with a stipend. However, he added, the role has changed in the last decade. He said he’s not planning on running again, but wants to make sure there are incentives for good new candidates to run in the future.
“In order to attract the people who are out there who are on the fence about whether or not this job and the hassle and the stress 24-7 that goes with the job are worth it or not, I think it’s really important that they are reimbursed in a significant way for what we’re expecting them to do,” he said. “We’ve got a climate now where it’s very adversarial. The whole politics environment is challenging, and I can see that we’re probably losing a lot of really good people that just don’t want to throw their hat in the fire.”
Coun. Tanille Johnston something needs to change with compensation rates if the city wants to attract younger and working people to political roles, pointing out the council salary rate would likely need to triple and the mayor’s salary would also need to significantly increase.
“I think the taxpayers would benefit from having full-time council for sure, but I think that’s a broader discussion that would have to be held with more community consultation,” she said.
Coun. Doug Chapman echoed Smyth and Kerr’s sentiments, and proposed a larger increase for the mayor’s salary than suggested by staff, pointing out the amount of time and effort the mayor must spend on advocacy work for the community and the industries that drive Campbell River’s economy. However, council rejected the idea, although some said they supported the idea in spirit.
Salaries for the mayor and council increase annually in alignment with the Consumer Price Index (CPI). However, in 2023, because of unusually high inflation, council voted to forgo that year’s increase.
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