Council approved a wage increase of $675 per month for the incoming mayor, but left the final ratification to the newly-elected council, who will be sworn in on Oct. 29.
It is municipal practise to have the outgoing council review the wages of councillors and the mayor prior to an election.
On Oct. 1, council was presented with a report prepared by retired town manager George Krefting, outlining the wages of municipalities throughout Alberta. That report came without a recommendation and council felt it couldn鈥檛 make a decision on appropriate wages that day, so it requested that Peter Waterworth, chief administrative officer, and outgoing Couns. Brenda Zinck and Mike Day, come up with a recommendation.
Following some intricate calculations, comparing the wages of the mayor and council in Banff and Hinton, then taking into account that land use and planning isn鈥檛 part of the job in Jasper, nor is it a full-time position, the panel came up with a recommended increase for the mayor.
Ultimately, it results in a wage of $30,000, plus per diem for events, meetings and conferences outside of regular council work.
鈥淟ooking at the history of claims, we thought that the rough balance to make an annual remuneration of around $40,000 can best be matched by going to a remuneration of $30,000 and leaving the rest in per diem,鈥� explained Waterworth, noting that the mayor鈥檚 job in Jasper is about 65 per cent of a full-time position.
For comparison, Banff鈥檚 mayor receives an annual salary of $77,000 and his position is considered full-time.
There was no recommendation for a wage increase for councillors.
鈥淚t didn鈥檛 strike us that there was an anomaly or that we were out of line in the rate councillors were paid, so for that reason we made no recommendation with regard to councillors, other than it be maintained and that it remain under review,鈥� said Waterworth, noting that on average Jasper鈥檚 councillors are paid $16,500 per year, including their salary and per diem.
Waterworth鈥檚 recommendations, which also included changing the word honouraria to remuneration to fully appreciate the work that the mayor and council do for the community, were approved by four out of six councillors. Coun. Rico Damota was the only councillor to vote in opposition and Coun. Dwain Wacko was absent.
Waterworth鈥檚 rationale for leaving the mayor鈥檚 wage amendment, as well as the continued review of councillor鈥檚 wages, for the new council to ratify is the need for transparency.
鈥淕iven that this is happening late in the day ... to give all candidates, incoming councillors and indeed the community a chance to reflect on this, this should come back for ratification at the first meeting of the new council.
鈥淚 think for transparency and fairness, given where we are in the time cycle, in my mind, that would be the right thing to do, but of course I am in your hands as council.鈥�
Council agreed and left it open for the new mayor and council to deal with once they have their feet on the ground, rather than forcing the decision upon them at their first meeting.
Couns. Zinck, Gilbert Wall and Damota, did, though, speak up to say, considering the workload, they believe the wages could be higher.
鈥淎lthough I agree with the whole process and the methodology of coming to these numbers, I still think we do a disservice to the incoming council, particularly the mayor鈥檚 chair, not valuing the positions in terms of their real commitment and the real availability necessary,鈥� said Wall.
鈥淭he fact that you will be compensated by a per diem to go to a meeting does not capture much of the value provided by the council or the mayor. In talking with Coun. Wacko after [the last meeting], we came essentially to the same conclusion that we have a tendency in the community to get a lot for nothing and this just reinforces that tendency.鈥�
Day countered, saying, when discussing council wages, 鈥渨e swung the pendulum closer to serving the community鈥� than toward 鈥減ure financial compensation.
鈥淪o [serving the community] is still probably the main factor to get involved. If it鈥檚 for the money, you picked the wrong game,鈥� he said.
聽Nicole Veerman
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