Pay raise for council

Roger Knox - Vernon Morning Star Published: April 13, 2010 7:00 PM

Armstrong council has voted themselves a pay raise, but the mayor isn’t thrilled about it. Council voted on a pay hike Monday that will see councillor salaries rise 16 per cent from $10,287 a year to $11,935, while Mayor Chris Pieper’s salary will rise nearly 14 per cent to $20,974 from $18,448. Pieper was the only politician to vote against the wage hikes, which take effect immediately. “I was against it because of the economic reality we’re in right now,” said Pieper. “I recommended postponing the raises until Dec. 31 of this year.” Pieper will accept the raise, however. “I’m not sure what I’ll do with it yet,” he said.

Council was following a policy established a number of years ago where stipends are reviewed every two years to make sure the city doesn’t fall behind other like-sized populations in B.C. when it comes to council wages. The policy came into place when it was discovered Armstrong had fallen severely behind other provincial municipal counterparts, and the council of the day voted on an approximate 30 per cent pay hike to get caught up. “The policy was adopted many years ago because Armstrong was notorious for not keeping up,” explained Coun. Kelly Rowe, chair of the city’s financial committee. Pieper said the review committee looked at council stipends in 10 similar-sized B.C. municipalities of Enderby, Sicamous, Oliver, Osoyoos, Rossland, Grand Forks, Vanderhoof, Creston, Golden and Sparwood. The highest and lowest salaries were tossed out, and the median of the remaining eight became the figures for Armstrong. Rowe said Armstrong is the lowest taxed of those like-sized communities.

“We all think very highly of Armstrong,” she said. “We give a lot of our time because we want to. For most of the people around the table, it’s not the dollars that keep us coming back to the table, it’s to do a good job for our taxpayers in Armstrong. And we feel we do a good job for our taxpayers.” Coun. Ryan Nitchie said it’s tough to swallow to vote in favour of a pay raise for yourself. “However, there’s no other system in place to review stipends for council,” said Nitchie. “I think, for future councillors, the position deserves some fair compensation.”

------------

Published: April 13, 2010 7:00 PM Morning Star Editorial: Armstrong council misses mark

It’s obvious that a majority of Armstrong city council members have challenges recalling recent events. It was only back in November that they blasted Okanagan Regional Library for hiking its executive director’s salary by 7.9 per cent. “That’s a complete disconnect and a sense of entitlement,” said Coun. John Trainor at the time. “The recession has had a devastating impact in the Okanagan and major employers are struggling. I’ve heard of families where both wage earners have lost their jobs.” But on Monday, council — except for Mayor Chris Pieper — voted to boost their remuneration. Pay for the mayor will jump 14 per cent, while it will increase 16 per cent for each of the six councillors. Obviously elected politicians should be compensated fairly, particularly because the time to commit to the community takes away from families and careers.

However, the same comments that Trainor and his colleagues directed towards ORL late last year apply now. Is there not a sense of entitlement that politicians can just vote themselves a raise? Yes there is a procedural mechanism to do so, but that doesn’t mean they have to. Are council members oblivious to the fact that many residents are still struggling with the recession? How many of Armstrong’s taxpayers have lost their jobs or seen their own wages frozen? Had council opted to follow the cost of living, opposition over an increase would largely be muted. But hikes of 14 and 16 per cent are not justifiable. If anything, Armstrong council has proven that the previous defense of taxpayers’ funds was hollow.