Transparency required

Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star Published: December 01, 2009 7:00 PM

There’s been a lot of fuss about Okanagan Regional Library hiking executive director Lesley Dieno’s salary nine per cent, but at least taxpayers know about it. On July 1, Vernon council increased chief administrative officer Leon Gous’s gross earnings to $150,000. And not a single peep was made publicly. “I can’t give a good reason as to why, after in-camera, a press release wasn’t issued,” said Coun. Mary-Jo O’Keefe when contacted. In 2008, Gous’ gross earnings (not including expenses and allowances) were $127,427. It’s projected to be $145,156 in 2009 (because the increase didn’t take effect until half-way through the year), and the $150,000 will be in place for all of 2010. Now council’s decision to increase Gous’ wages was made after reviewing remuneration for other similar-sized jurisdictions. “To be competitive, we need to get him up to that salary,” said O’Keefe. “We don’t want to be at the top of the spectrum but we don’t want so be so far down that we’re not competitive.”

Just like any business, retention of staff is crucial for local government and a key aspect to ensuring skilled, dedicated workers stick around is to compensate them properly. As an engineer, Gous could find numerous opportunities in the private sector while other municipalities may want to lure him over. So the real issue isn’t to do with increasing wages for Gous. The problem is a council, which claims to be transparent, didn’t take realistic measures to let residents know that their most senior employee is earning more, and the reasons behind that move. As part of the process, administration expenses were approved in the 2009 budget and then council determined raises based on performance. Gous’ details will be officially made public in the 2009 annual report when it is published in about June 2010, almost a year after the higher salary actually came into place.

It would be easy for council members to say the public doesn’t care about what civil servants are paid, but that would be wrong. Residents have no choice when it comes to paying taxes but they want assurances that it is being well spent and their best interest is being considered. And by making the information public, mayor and council can get some feedback from their bosses. Particularly at a time when many local residents have lost their jobs, had their wages frozen or retirement savings eaten away, they could tell council if such a spike in administration costs was a good move or out of touch during a recession. Releasing details about a raise 12 months after the fact is woefully inadequate as it doesn’t allow the public to provide input in a timely fashion. What kind of influence can they have over their elected officials? Perhaps council’s own actions on remuneration were the reason city officials didn’t wade into the fight over ORL paying Dieno more. “It’s their own budget and they have their own taxing authority,” Mayor Wayne Lippert told fellow North Okanagan Regional District directors as they were calling for heads at the library board last month. That is extremely true for the City of Vernon as well, and council is completely within its authority to increase remuneration for staff and itself for that matter. But for a council that preaches openness and disclosure, this was a break down in communications.