SET WAGES FOR COUNCIL

Some Calgarians have believed for a while that the mayor’s salary is too high. City hall’s compensation review committee has reached the same conclusion, recommending it be reduced by $12,123 after this fall’s election.

If the proposal is accepted by city council Monday, the mayor’s $212,870 salary would be trimmed six per cent to $200,747 — still one of the highest in the country. The five citizen volunteers who sit on the committee hired a consultant to assist with their work and were persuaded the mayor’s salary is overly steep compared with the $113,416 councillors receive annually.

“The mayor as the local political leader and the face of a major urban municipality should command a higher salary than councillors,” the committee writes in its report. “However, based on the data received from the consultant, the committee felt that the spread between the mayor and councillors in Calgary was too large.”

The committee recommends future salary adjustments for city council continue to be based on changes to the Alberta average weekly earnings report, but instead of being made automatically, as they are now, it advises that elected officials should vote whether to accept or decline the pay raise or reduction. Frankly, instead of putting politicians in the position of setting their own wages — or taking political heat for automatic wage hikes that enrich them — their salaries should be set for the full fouryear term. Just like now, candidates seeking public office would know what the compensation is, but instead of it rising and falling based on fluctuations in the average weekly earnings statistic, it would remain fixed, providing stability.

Holding political office isn’t like a normal employment relationship. City candidates know at the outset they’ll have to reapply for their job in four years. They also understand that barring exceptional circumstances, they’re guaranteed four full years of employment — something most ordinary employees can’t assume.

The committee acknowledges this reality by recommending a generous transition allowance be eliminated for those who leave office — although current council members would receive payment for the financial benefits they’ve accumulated. “The moment they are declared elected, politicians all have four years notice of expiry of their term of service,” says the report. “The existing transition allowance for the City of Calgary elected officials has no equivalent in the world of employment where one voluntarily leaves one’s position or is not deemed sufficiently effective to maintain the position.”

Exactly — and setting a fixed salary for the four-year contract elected officials engage in with voters similarly makes good sense.

It’s time to make the change.