By Jeff Nagel - BC Local News - February 12, 2008
A lucrative pay package for the new TransLink board is far richer than what regional health authority directors receive and even exceeds the province's limit for compensating boards of B.C.'s biggest Crown corporations. The unelected TransLink board agreed in secret last week to take a pay package worth $100,000 for board chair Dale Parker and around $46,000 for each of the other eight directors. The directors are paid a $25,000 stipend, in addition to $1,200 per meeting, plus $3,000 for each committee they sit on, plus $5,000 for each committee they chair. Fraser Health Authority directors – who control a $2-billion budget that is more than double the size of TransLink's, oversee a dozen hospitals and are tasked with a critical redesign of the heath care system – do not receive nearly as much. Their per meeting fee is just $250 ($500 when meetings exceed four hours). The base stipends are $15,000 for FHA board chair Gordon Barefoot and $7,500 for the directors. Their pay is also subject to a maximum annual limit – $45,000 for the chair and $25,500 for the directors. There is no such limit for TransLink directors, except that they can't collect more than one meeting fee in any 24-hour period.
The Fraser Health pay levels are in line with a treasury board directive that was approved by the provincial cabinet last April and sets out remuneration limits for all B.C. Crown agencies. The highest pay levels allowed are reserved for major Crown corporations like B.C. Hydro. The maximum meeting fee is $750. The base stipends are $30,000 for chairs and $15,000 for directors. The directive limits meeting fees to a maximum of 60 per year for chairs and 30 for directors. Asked why the treasury board directive didn't also apply to the new TransLink board, Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon said it's because the new South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority is an independent authority – not a Crown agency – even though it was created in November by provincial legislation. "It's a very different structure – it's totally unique," Falcon said in an interview. "We have gone to great pains to ensure there's not going to be political interference or influence in the decisions made." The directive defines Crown agencies as ones where the province appoints the majority of directors. In TransLink's case, directors were technically appointed by a mayors' council. The mayors chose from a list of candidates vetted by a screening panel. That five-member panel had one provincial rep, one from the mayors and three from business groups. It also crafted the pay package.
Falcon did not ask a provincial Remuneration Advisory Committee for a determination on whether TransLink should be covered under the Crown agency rules. He said that was not necessary. "I always think these amounts are high, especially to the average working person out there," Falcon said, adding the panel will have to defend its decision. But he said he thinks the wages are appropriate and will be worthwhile. "I would much rather pay well to get the best and the brightest," Falcon said, calling the pay package "infinitesimal" compared to TransLink's budget. Former NDP premier Mike Harcourt, who chaired the screening panel that crafted the pay package, said it's modeled primarily on compensation paid to the boards of the Vancouver airport authority and port authority. Asked why regional health authorities weren't an appropriate model, Harcourt said they were examined. "We didn't think that was a suitable comparison," he said. Health authorities get mainly government funding, he said, while TransLink pulls in diverse funding sources, including property and fuel tax. Asked why the panel didn't cap TransLink directors' pay through the same sort of annual maximum set out for provincial agencies, Harcourt said, "The issue of capping was never one that we thought was appropriate – we didn't think a cap would be required."
Harcourt said the candidates for the board were of unprecedented quality. "The quality of people you're talking about – they don't do this to make money." Harcourt said he was aware of the treasury board directive for Crown agency pay but likewise did not think it was one that should be followed, even voluntarily. "I still don't understand what the controversy is about the level of compensation," he said. The pay package was unanimously backed by the five panel members. They established the pay levels after the board had been chosen – candidates didn't know compensation in advance. Harcourt said the TransLink directors will likely attend six board and six committee meetings per year. He agreed the total compensation paid to the new board will likely approach $500,000 per year – up from $122,000 paid to the larger 12-member board of mayors and councillors who previously served. The former directors received no stipends – just $200 meeting fees (rising to $400 after four hours) – and the chair got $40,000.
Under the new structure, TransLink directors who speak to other groups on behalf of the board will also be eligible for the $1,200 meeting fee and they'll be able to claim a variety of expenses related to their board work. Board chair Dale Parker predicted situations where directors would participate in meetings by teleconference and still get paid would be rare. "These are for exceptional situations when someone is unavoidably out of town," he said, promising board attendance records will be released. "That's not a common practice of people sitting at home and phoning in – that wouldn't be permitted to happen." He said the meeting fees reflect not just the time spent meeting, but considering reports ahead of time. "There really is a lot of hours spent getting to the point where you do have a board meeting," Parker said. He expects to serve TransLink nearly full time – he's dropped some other boards he serves on to make time – and other directors face part-time duties. Some have full-time jobs or businesses, while some are retired. NDP transportation critic Maurine Karagianis said the new pay levels are unheard of in local government circles, and vowed to press the issue as the Legislature reconvenes this week. "To be paid $1,200 every time they show up for a meeting? Absolutely outrageous." Asked if she's dismayed an ex-NDP premier presided over the pay recommendation, she said Harcourt was just one member of the panel. "In any case this is out of touch with what real British Columbians receive in their own pay packets," Karagianis said.
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TransLink to spend in secret By Jeff Nagel - The Tri-City News - January 18, 2008
TransLink’s appointed board will make all its decisions in secret, says new chair Dale Parker.The former banker and business executive said the public will likely be allowed to address the directors four times a year but all board meetings, discussions and decisions will now be behind closed doors. “The debate that has to go on among the board, the to and fro, the open discussion with management — we can do that better without the cameras and the lights of the media,” Parker said. He was chosen as chair last week behind closed doors at the new nine-member board’s first meeting. Mayors and councillors on the former board had called on their replacements to continue making transportation decisions in public, particularly since $250 million of TransLink’s $925 million budget comes from property taxes.
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Don Quixote Note: The $250,000 that comes from property tax each year is the result of the Province exempting the residents in the GVRD from all hospital taxes in late 1990's.
"As a result, the Province assumed responsibility for the full cost of health capital projects for which GVRHD funding was no longer available, which enabled the GVTA to replace the tax levy for hospital purposes with an equivalent tax levy for transportation purposes."
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