Kelowna city council says raise not a raise
Pay hike for mayor and council meant to replace tax perk that will be lost in new year
Salaries for Kelowna’s city council members are rising, but they want taxpayers to know they won’t really be taking home more money.
Council unanimously approved a $12,000 boost for the mayor and $3,000 more for councillors.
The increases are mostly symbolic, however, since they are designed to offset the effect of federal tax changes coming in January.
Currently, one-third of a council member’s pay is tax free, but that perk will be eliminated next year. If council members had not boosted their salaries, the net effect would have been a decrease in the amount they earn.
“We’re not taking home more money,” Coun. Mohini Singh said. “I wouldn’t want the public to think we are arbitrarily giving ourselves a fat raise.”
“It’s not voting ourselves a raise. It’s voting to break even,” added Coun. Charlie Hodge.
The mayor’s pay will rise to $108,000 from $95,700, and councillors’ pay will rise to $36,500 from $33,500.
Mayor Colin Basran did not comment on the issue, except to say that the pay for politicians was an “ever popular topic.”
For his part, Coun. Luke Stack said he wished the provision that one-third of a councillor’s salary be tax free had been removed years ago. It was originally meant to cover job incidentals, such as gas, meals and other expenses, for which councillors did not have to provide receipts.
Stack said the tax-free allowance always stuck him as “hokey,” particularly since he never spent one-third of his salary on such expenses.
“It always felt weird to me, to be frank,” Stack said. “I actually think this is a more transparent way to deal with salaries.”
Councillors said it was important that elected officials be paid what they said was a fair salary, to encourage the widest possible pool of people to seek elected office.
“If you want to attract good people to sit in these chairs, you need to have a certain level of compensation,” Coun. Tracy Gray said.
Hodge said if salaries were lower, people with lower incomes wouldn’t run for council.
“You’d wind up with a lot of retired, wealthy, business people, which is great, wonderful. But I don’t know if that would represent the whole demographic of the community.”
Kelowna’s pay for councillors is said by city staff to fall in the bottom one-quarter of B.C. communities with a population of more than 75,000.
With the next municipal election in October, Coun. Gail Given quipped that the salary revisions would only matter to the incumbents “if we’re re-elected.”