Vancouver council approves compensation review
Increased workload cited for likelihood of extra pay, more staff
Twenty years after an independent panel’s recommendations made sweeping changes to the way Vancouver’s elected council is paid, the newly re-elected Vision Vancouver council wants another review.
But now, saying their workload in this new age of digital democracy and social media has become almost unmanageable, the Vision-majority council has opted to also look at whether they should add staff in addition to another boost in pay.
The terms of the review, approved Tuesday, also include looking at salaries for the new deputy mayor position as well as the existing acting mayor position. Both jobs used to be done by councillors on a monthly rotating basis, but in his inaugural speech in December, Mayor Gregor Robertson separated the two and gave them to two of his closest lieutenants, Coun. Andrea Reimer (deputy mayor) and Coun. Raymond Louie (acting mayor).
“Certainly with email, with cellphones, with social media and the engagement we need around the city in the neighbourhoods, it is important that there is an independent look at compensation,” Robertson told reporters.
He insisted the role of councillors has evolved into a full-time job, although some — like Coun. Kerry Jang — continue to hold outside positions. (Jang is a professor of psychiatry at the University of B.C.)
“I think for all intents and purposes it is a full-time job for councillors,” the mayor said. “We need to look at the kind of hours that are going in right now. Certainly it is far more for council and park board now than was anticipated 20 years ago when this program was set up.”
Certainly with email, with cellphones, with social media…it is important that there is an independent look at compensation.
GREGOR ROBERTSON
VANCOUVER MAYOR
In 1995, mayor Philip Owen’s Non-Partisan Association ordered an independent review of council salaries as it was preparing to drop a long-standing policy of allowing one-third of the salaries to be tax-free. That report — by Fraser Institute director Michael Walker, the late Forest Alliance chairman Jack Munro, labour relations mediator Judi Korbin and former B.C. Government Employees Union head John Fryer — recommended a major overhaul. It also recommended councillors get the same pay as the average full-time employee in Vancouver, with an escalator tied to inflation so politicians would not fall behind.
As a result, Owen’s salary went to $89,000 from $66,000, and councillors’ pay increased by $10,000 to $39,000. Today, as a result of the Owen council changes, Robertson gets a salary of $154,347 and councillors are paid $67,994.
One significant beneficiary of a review will be park board commissioners, who were not included in the Owen review but will be on this one. They still earn $12,000 a year for a job that often involves more than 20 hours a week. Had they been part of the review, their salaries would be closer to $20,000.
Robertson called the 1995 pay escalator clause “an interesting model” and “quite unique,” but said it should be “someone independent to decide what is appropriate compensation.”
However, on Tuesday, Owen said his council of the day considered the method to be both accurate and adequate, and he still does.
“It is the exact system that you should do all over again. I am glad we did it,” he said. “Don’t analyze how many phone calls they make and how many meetings they attend and how many hours they put in and how much time they spend reading their mail. You have got to relate it to other comparable situations in the market.”