Mayor & Council salary proposed

CASTANET by Wayne Moore Dec 4, 2007

The Mayor and Council of the new Westside District Municipality will earn a combined $167,136 for its first year of service. The figures are part of a financial document prepared by Interim Westside Administrator, Rod Drennan, for Thursday's inaugural Council meeting. Mayor-elect Rosalind Neis would be paid $52,140 while each of the six Councillors-elect would receive $19,166. The figures were derived by averaging the salaries of Mayor and Councillors in six other BC communities of similar population and size. "In preparing the recommendations laid out in the attached policies, consideration has been given to the amount of time council members need to spend, not only in attending council and committee meetings, functions and events, but also the significant amount of time spent in learning and researching the various issues they have to consider in order to render sound and reasonable decisions," says Drennan. "The personal commitment and sacrifices of elected office are extraordinary, particularly in the case of a newly incorporated municipality, and the future of our community relies upon providing incentives which will attract quality individuals to run for political office." Drennan says the averages arrived at are in 2006 dollars, and recommended the remuneration be increased by the equivalent of the Consumer Price Index. That has not been done and Drennan says an "arm's length" committee should review that in 2008. The new Westside Council will vote on the remuneration package Thursday.