Central Okanagan school board takes raise after losing tax break

Central Okanagan school trustees voted in favour of a pay raise Wednesday night.

As of Jan. 1, school trustees and other municipal officers will no longer have a portion of their income be tax-free, following a decision by the federal government.

Currently, one-third of trustees’ pay is non-taxable, to cover expenses connected with carrying out work-related duties, including additional vehicle insurance, expenses related to having a home office and cellphone bills.

“What that means is that they will be taking home less money than they would be normally, because they no longer get that preferential taxation,” said Eileen Sadlowski, secretary-treasurer for the Central Okanagan school district.

At Wednesday’s board meeting, trustees voted in favour of increasing their stipends.

Gross pay will be increased by $1,724 to $20,607 for trustees.

The vice-chairperson’s gross salary will increase by $1,931 to $21,764, and the chairperson’s gross salary will increase by $2,247 to $23,522. The added cost to the district is $12,799. As of Jan. 1, 100 per cent of their school district salaries will be taxable.

West Kelowna trustee Chantelle Desrosiers was the only trustee to vote against the pay raise.

Board chairperson Moyra Baxter said she believes the new salary is reasonable.

“This was a recommendation from the finance and audit committee,” she said. “We’ve been discussing this on and off ever since the federal government well over a year ago said they were going to be doing this on January 1, 2019, and the previous board decided that they would leave this closer to the time and let the new board make the decision.”

Trustees will still be responsible for the expenses that are currently covered by the tax-free portion.

Many school boards have yet to decide how to address the elimination of the taxfree portion of their salaries.

The City of Kelowna voted to increase the mayor’s annual pay by 11 per cent and each councillor’s by nine per cent.

In Vernon, the mayor and council will receive an 11 per cent pay raise to offset the change.