By Andrea Klassen - Kamloops This Week Updated: October 18, 2013 4:38 PM
A citizen task force wants Kamloops council to give itself a raise. Recommendations from the Council Remuneration Task Force are headed to city council for debate on Tuesday, Oct. 22, with the seven-member committee encouraging councillors and the mayor to up their salaries by about $9,500 and $11,000, respectively. The goal is to have the mayor receive a paycheque equivalent to 90 per cent of the average compensation paid to mayors in 14 communities of similar size, including Kamloops. Councillors will make 40 per cent of the mayor's salary. That would move the mayor's salary to almost $86,000 from about $74,000. Councillor pay would increase to $34,000 from $25,000. Because the changes wouldn't take effect until 2015, when the next council is sworn in, exact changes to mayor and council salaries are only estimates. Other cities used in the wage calculation could shift their own compensation plans in the meantime.
Besides the salary changes, the committee is recommending councillors get cellphones and tablets from the city, rather than a $75-per-month communication allowance. Under the recommendations, councillors could also opt into the city's benefits plan. Councillors would pay 50 per cent of premium costs. Should all councillors opt in, the added benefits would cost the city about $10,000 a year.
In June, Bepple attempted to get a motion passed that would raise pay to $31,000 per councillor in 2015, but couldn't get the needed support. An eventual compromise motion after a half-dozen failed votes led to the pay committee being struck and councillors giving themselves a raise of just over $1,000, effective in 2014.
(more)
No comments:
Post a Comment