City councillors’ pension packages too ‘golden’ for taxpayers federation
Calgary city councillors’ pensions are topped up by taxpayers more than those in three large Canadian cities combined and should be rolled back, says a watchdog group.
And the mayor receives two pensions, something no other counterpart in the country appears to enjoy, said the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
In a report it released Wednesday, the CTF said taxpayers stumped up $6.1 million for council members’ pensions from 2007 to 2016, while the lawmakers contributed just $1.2 million.
That larger number compares with $4.2 million in Ottawa, Edmonton and Vancouver, said the CTF.
While current council members didn’t craft that formula, they should alter it to be less generous in the future, said CTF Alberta director Colin Craig.
“It’s excessive when you consider how little time a councillor has to work to receive these kinds of benefits — after just four years, it’s $290,000,” said Craig.
“It’s far more than most of the rest of the public receive ... we’re not saying councillors shouldn’t have any retirement benefits, we just want them to be not as golden.”
A city councillor since 1993 and its longest-serving member, Ray Jones would receive just over $66,000 a year if he retired in 2012, said Craig.
If he lives to 85, Nenshi is in line to receive $1,415,791 in benefits, while personally contributing $158,815 to that, said the CTF report.
Those council pensions, said Craig, are also insured by taxpayers more lucratively than most others’ programs are by private employers.
“It’s extremely risky — if a recession comes along and there’s not enough money in the pension fund, taxpayers dump more cash into it,” he said.
“Edmonton council isn’t guaranteed a set of payouts for life.”
In the years ahead, Calgary should reform its pension system to the Edmonton model, which offers its council an 11 per cent contribution, or a 12 per cent contribution toward a definedcontribution pension plan, less than half of what their Cowtown counterparts receive, he said.
An official with the mayor’s office wouldn’t comment in detail on the CTF’s report, saying Nenshi doesn’t make decisions about his pension.
Coun. Peter Demong noted the council compensation committee consisting of city human resources officials and private citizens makes recommendations on pension levels every four years.
Its recent review came out against adjustments to its taxpayer/councillor contribution ratio of about 2 to 1.
“I would be happy to have the committee say, ‘You should now be doing a one-to-one,’ maybe that would be the correct number to look at,” said Demong, adding that shouldn’t be done in the middle of council’s mandate.
The CTF’s Calgary city council pension numbers were skewed by big top-ups to compensate for losses during the recession of a decade ago, said Coun. Shane Keating.
“But I’m open for change, for sure, if there’s a need,” said Keating.
“If you can prove it makes sense, maybe we should go to a defined contribution, but I haven’t heard any evidence of it.”
He said pension top-ups in times of downturns can and are done by some private businesses for their employees, he said.
Coun. Jeromy Farkas has opted out of the council pension plan, telling Postmedia last February that he doesn’t want taxpayers to be “bailing out” his benefits.
An independent citizen committee should review pensions that are too lucrative, he said.