Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star Published: February 04, 2010 6:00 PM
The North Okanagan Regional District’s senior bureaucrat is taking home more pay. Directors voted Wednesday to give administrator Greg Betts a five per cent wage hike retroactive to Jan. 1. It will go from $146,686 to $154,020. “Greg has done a good job and the board felt it’s warranted,” said Herman Halvorson, chairman. Many people in the region have been laid off or had their salaries frozen but Halvorson doesn’t believe the board’s decision reflects insensitivity. “When people are working and doing a good job, they should be recognized. It’s a fair increase,” he said. Director John Trainor expects some residents will question the increase. “To a person on the street, five per cent won’t look good,” he said. “But the reality is it’s contractual. If we hadn’t of given him our blessing, he wouldn’t have got a raise and he wouldn’t be our employee.” Trainor says Betts’ contract calls for an annual review and a five per cent increase if the review ends positively. “He’s doing as good a job as humanly possible,” said Trainor.
However, the board decision wasn’t unanimous. Director Jack Gilroy confirms he voted against the increase. “It creates a snowball effect with all of the other administrators,” he said. “Five per cent is a little heavy. The cost of living is about zero right now.” Also voting against the hike was director Wayne Lippert. “Mr. Betts signed a contract for a specific time period and he knew everything going in to it. He knew what was going on,” said Lippert, adding that allowances are referenced in the contract but are at the discretion of the board. Some officials have stated that Betts’ salary needed to be raised to keep him in line with administrators in other jurisdictions, but Lippert says that creates a vicious cycle. “We use other communities and administrators to deem where they should be and the scale keeps ratcheting up,” he said.
Last summer, the City of Vernon increased chief administrative officer Leon Gous’ gross earnings to $150,000. In 2008, Gous’ gross earnings (not including expenses and allowances) were $127,427. But Lippert, who is Vernon’s mayor, insists there’s a difference between the city and the regional district. “You have to look at what the jobs are and the city administrator has a lot more responsibilities,” said Lippert. “There are 300 staff and services they’re responsible for.” Betts’ contract ends in May 2011.
2 comments:
Obviously, this is very, VERY disappointing and for once I agree with Mr. Gilroy.
I'm tired of this suggestion that we'll lose senior administators/public servants if they don't receive overly generous salary increases, especially in these challenging times.
Mr. Betts isn't going anywhere and I'm sure he'd be very happy making $146,000. Who else is getting a salary increase these days? Most people are happy to be working.
If he's unhappy with his remuneration and wants to move on, fine; that's his choice. His position would be EASY (repeat EASY) to fill....providing, of course, the posting went nationally, which rarely happens in this area.
Disappointing indeed.
But don't blame our hard-working Mr. Betts, blame the Board that hired him!
These politicians, our very own representatives, unanimously agreed to hire Mr. Betts subject to his contract demands: 5%/year as long as they keep him on.
This does not preclude Mr. Betts from receiving, in addition to his 5% wage hike, the annual 3.5% increase that all other RDNO employees received this year.
Mr. Betts should be well-positioned to enjoy his retirement in May 2011, seeing as his RDNO salary increased 40% over the past 2 years.
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