Veteran councillor to donate pay increase

Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star Published: September 15, 2009 7:00 PM

A veteran Vernon politician is unwilling to cash a sudden wage hike. Coun. Patrick Nicol is upset that a majority of his colleagues voted Monday to increase their remuneration by paying for attendance at committee meetings. “Everyone knew what they were getting when signing their nomination papers,” he said. And while legislation forces Nicol to accept the increase, he doesn’t plan to keep the $2,603. “It will be funneled to the community,” he said of charities.

Historically, council members have not been specifically paid for committee work. Those duties were covered by the base annual salary of $62,775 for the mayor and $20,250 for each councillor. But the new formula will see each council member compensated $137 for each committee meeting they are appointed to. Coun. Buffy Baumbrough will receive an additional $8,905, while Coun. Mary-Jo O’Keefe will get $7,946. That is followed by $4,658 for Mayor Wayne Lippert, $2,877 for Coun. Bob Spiers, $2,329 for Coun. Jack Gilroy and $1,644 for Coun. Shawn Lee. The total bill will be $30,000.

Baumbrough, Lippert, O’Keefe and Gilroy raised their hands for the raise, and Baumbrough believes committees have become important. “There is increasing demand from the public that they be involved in decision-making,” she said. Most of the committee meetings are during the day when councillors are generally focused on their private careers. “It is onerous and has had an impact,” said Baumbrough. Gilroy says many people don’t fully understand the amount of work involved with elected office. “A lot of new councillors didn’t realize how much work is involved,” he said.

Besides Nicol, opposition came from Lee and Spiers. “I will vote against this until hell freezes over,” said Spiers, who wanted existing policy followed. The city’s policy mandates that a review of remuneration take place prior to the civic election every three years. That means the next group of politicians, not the council of the day, benefit from any change. Prior to the 2008 civic election, a review was conducted and the previous council decided to tie any salary hikes to the consumer price index.

Lee wants a review of all committees to see how often they meet and what level of council representation is required. “We need to be clear as council on what we’re spending our time on and is it useful?” he said.

Council also voted Monday to start providing themselves with mileage at 51 cents a kilometre.“In two days, I put on 300 kilometres and I never left the regional district. And it was all on city business,” said Lippert.

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As per Posting earlier Today.:

Don Quixote Note: The $30,000 estimate per year is if all Councilors claim for the $137 stipend per committee meeting. It is my understanding that it is not an automatic payment but must be processed by a valid claim submitted for payroll approval.

Therefore I will not be submitting any claims for any committees that I am on that are the subject of this new remuneration policy. I will reconsider this position in late 2011 when the normal council remuneration review is done.

If as the above article suggests that I have to take it by legislation I will follow Coun. Nicol's example and donate it to local charities.