Kelowna politicians getting 30% raise

KELOWNA — Members of City of Kelowna council voted Monday in favour of significant pay raises, but the decision wasn’t close to unanimous as it was only supported by five members, rejected by three.

A recent staff report stated the pay increases will bring their wages on par with what their peers in other cities in British Columbia of a similar size currently earn.

Following lengthy debate, the majority of council supported a motion which will see the mayor’s salary increase to $145,000, from just under $127,000, while the salaries of councillors will jump more than 30 per cent from just under $43,000 annually to just over $58,000.

The wage increases were recommended in a report by outgoing city clerk Stephen Fleming following a study of 12 cities across B.C. conducted by the City of Victoria. The survey concluded that only the City of Kamloops paid its mayor an annual salary lower than that of Kelowna Mayor Tom Dyas. The same report stated Kelowna city councillors landed at the bottom of the list in terms of annual remuneration.

The results made it clear that the longer the current wages for mayor and council remained in place, the larger the pay gap would get as most cities of similar size have regular wage increases in place for their mayors and councils, said Fleming.

Councillors Rick Webber, Mohini Singh and Gord Lovegrove voted against the increases. Coun. Lloyd Wooldridge was absent from the meeting.

During a presentation to council Monday, Fleming said the mayor’s job is full-time, while council members are considered part-time, with guidelines that their wages reflect 40 per cent of the time the mayor spends at his job.

Council members are required to attend and prepare for 35 to 40 regular council meetings and a dozen public hearings each year according to the city’s community charter.

Dyas commented that the salary increases would not be popular with everyone, but he defended them suggesting it will attract quality candidates for mayor and council in the future.

“If we want the best individuals in these chairs in the future, it’s something that we need to do so that at least we’re on par with regards to communities throughout the province,” Dyas said.

Voting in favour of wage increases is never easy, but there’s no reason Kelowna council should rank near the bottom in this province, said Dyas.

“This is not an easy position that it puts us in, being in political office and looking at sitting here and saying ‘you’re going to advance yourself with some type of wage increase’ is difficult,” he said.

Rookie councillor Rick Webber, a long-time news anchor, didn’t agree.

“I talked to some friends of mine over the weekend and they said, ‘of course if we could vote to give ourselves a 30 per cent raise, we’d love to give ourselves a 30 per cent raise’, but in the real world, you don’t get a chance to do that,” Webber said.

Not once during a 30-year career in broadcasting did he ever have one of his bosses come up to him and state “look, you’re behind the other market, so we’re going to give you a 30 per cent increase.”

“I looked at my schedule in the last couple of weeks of March and there were very few evenings I was home over two weeks,” said Coun. Maxine DeHart, who voted in favour alongside Dyas, Ron Cannan, Charlie Hodge and Luke Stack.

Wooldridge -- who is attending a UBCM conference in Victoria for regional district board chairs and CAOs -- agrees with the pay raise.

“The proposed changes to Council’s pay ensures equity and accessibility to attract decision-makers of diverse backgrounds,” Wooldridge wrote in an email. “It’s crucial to include all voices around the Council table to reflect the diversity of our communities, not just those who have the financial ability to do so. These changes will allow that.”

The bylaw approving the wage increases is expected to come before council for final approval in two weeks at the next regular meeting of council. The wage increases will not take place until the bylaw is passed.

In Penticton, which is a much smaller city, the mayor earns $78,332 annually and the city councillors $25,936.

In Summerland, the mayor earns $36,000 annually, the deputy mayor $23,000 and the councillors $16,200.