City salaries rise $800,000

By NATALIE BANK Wednesday, August 29, 2007 http://www.dailycourier.ca/stories.php?id=61712

The City of Vernon spent nearly $800,000 more on employee salaries in 2006 than 2005 and to some city council members, that money means less is being spent on city services. The city's 2006 financial report shows the earnings of the 18 staff members who make more than $75, 000 per year increased by about $87,000 from 2005 to last year. Mayor Wayne Lippert cautioned against looking at the increase as a poor use of funds. He said labour is in demand and the city needs to offer competitive wages to keep their qualified employees on staff. "I know taxpayers may not appreciate it because it's paying out more of their taxes, but you need good employees"

Coun. Barry Beardsell said it's a reasonable method, but any rise in pay will affect benefits to the public. "Any increase in the remuneration to politicians on top of the cost of wage increases that are negotiated for city employees ends up being quite significant and cuts into the services we are able to deliver that taxpayers are so concerned about and one of those is road conditions." Lippert said the city may be spending more on wages, but that doesn't directly translate to less being spent on city projects because revenues are also on the rise. "You need to remember the city is a business in the sense that they have expenditures and revenue, and that doesn't necessarily come from taxpayers." Lippert said another off-set to staff salary increases is a near $1 million surplus the city will use as a reserve.

City councillors saw less than a $27,000 increase in overall earnings between 2005 and 2006, but expenses stayed roughly the same at more than $14,700. This year the current council agreed to approve only future members' remuneration so councillors won't be deciding how much to increase their own pay. In 2006 city councillors received just over $19,000 in pay with individual expense payments ranging from zero to more than $3,700. The mayor earned almost $60,000 in salary. Lippert said the city's 2006 financial report should be available to the public by next week.