Panel calls for cut to mayor’s pay

Move would shave $17,453 off salary while putting it even with Calgary mayor’s deal

An independent committee called to review council salaries came back with a recommendation Thursday to reduce the pay for Edmonton’s top job.

Mayor Don Iveson says he accepts the recommendation and even found something to smile about. If he is reelected, the pay would put him exactly even with Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi, not just under, as has happened in the past.

“It’s a subtle way of saying Edmonton’s just as good as Calgary. That I’m OK with,” said Iveson after the report came out Thursday. “As our stock is rising, it’s become clear Alberta’s two biggest cities have more in common than they have separating them.”

Council is scheduled to vote on the recommendations Tuesday. If accepted, the mayor’s salary would fall to $200,747 per year after the Oct. 16 election.

That’s a reduction of $17,453, compared to the $218,200 the mayor would get next year under the current formula.

In June, council asked its fivemember independent panel to review the salaries as they struggled to deal with a recent federal tax change.

Ottawa previously allowed municipal politicians to claim onethird of their income tax-free, an allowance Edmonton took advantage of to save a small amount in the city budget.

FEDERAL TAX CHANGE

However, Ottawa recently changed the rules. Now the full salary must be taxable. Accepting the full salary equivalent would have made Edmonton’s mayor the highest paid in the country. Now the mayors who lead Alberta’s two largest cities will be compensated equally.

“I think it’s for the committee to explain why they established the differentials that they did, looking at comparable and wage levels across industries and across provinces,” Iveson said.

The recommendation would also reduce compensation for councillors. It would fall to $113,416 after the election from $116,729 under the current rules.

Phyllis Clark, chair of the independent committee, is expected to speak to the report Tuesday afternoon at the council meeting.

THE COMMITTEE’S REASONS

According to the written report, the committee looked at six other cities — Toronto, Mississauga, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Vancouver and Calgary. It also looked at recent wage trends for city employees and Alberta’s average weekly earnings.

The committee decided council pay should reflect the average salary in the provincial jurisdiction where they work. “However, it did not seem defensible that Edmonton’s elected officials should be paid a higher salary than Calgary’s elected officials,” the committee wrote.

The committee said the pay has to be high enough to compensate for the “dedication, complexity and time demanded” and should be enough to attract citizens with a wide range of skills and backgrounds.

The five members of Edmonton’s independent committee are Phyllis Clark, Dan McKinley, George Andrews, Paul Precht and Shelley Ewart-Johnson.