Three city councillors are not in favour of giving themselves a pay raise, at least not all at once.
At its Mar. 25 meeting, council heard that Kelownasa国际传媒檚 remuneration has fallen significantly behind comparable municipalities.
A recent review of 12 municipalities by the City of Victoria identified Kelowna mayorsa国际传媒檚 remuneration to be lower than all municipalities except Kamloops.
Councillor remuneration, as a base percentage (35 per cent) of the mayorsa国际传媒檚 remuneration and in dollars, was last.
A staff report recommends the mayorsa国际传媒檚 salary be increased from $126,497 to $145,200, and councillor salaries be hiked from $42,991 to $58,080.
Those salaries are the 60th percentile of the 12 communities in the City of Victoria study.
sa国际传媒淕iving ourselves such a substantial raise doesnsa国际传媒檛 seem right,sa国际传媒� said Coun. Rick Webber.
While supporting the mayorsa国际传媒檚 increase, and agreeing that salaries were falling behind, Webber suggested there may be a better process for the taxpayer than approving the hike all at once.
sa国际传媒淚sa国际传媒檓 against the motion as it is right now.sa国际传媒�
Coun. Mohini Singh agreed.
sa国际传媒淚 would be in support of a modest increase and then let the next council make a decision on how much of an increase would be appropriate.sa国际传媒�
Previous councils, in their last year of a term, have appointed a community task force to research remuneration increases for incoming councils after an election.
The last time that was done was in 2011.
sa国际传媒淥ur experience with a number of them prior to that had not been overly positive,sa国际传媒� noted Stephen Fleming with the city clerksa国际传媒檚 office.
He said subsequent councils decided against a task force and remuneration was tied to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for Vancouver.
sa国际传媒淲e became aware early last year, or late 2022, that the gap was starting to widen with that formula.sa国际传媒�
Mayor Tom Dyas said it is not an easy decision to make.
sa国际传媒淚f we want the best individuals in these chairs in the futuresa国际传媒tsa国际传媒檚 something that we need to do so that at least wesa国际传媒檙e on par with regards to communities throughout the province.sa国际传媒�
Several councillors noted that residents were shocked to find out how little they are paid compared to the work they do.
Coun. Maxine DeHart pointed out that councillors are away from their families, or those who are still working, their jobs, on a regular basis to attend to their duties.
sa国际传媒淐learly council puts in more than 30 per cent time compared with a mayor,sa国际传媒� Coun. Luke Stack agreed. sa国际传媒淎s our city has grown, become more complex, much larger population, the jobsa国际传媒檚 bigger.sa国际传媒�
Coun. Gord Lovegrove said mayor and councillor positions need to be paid fairly, and suggested an amendment that the remuneration increase become effective for the next council, however, it went no further.
Council voted in favour of the remuneration increases recommended by staff with Lovegrove, Singh and Webber opposed.
Coun. Loyal Wooldridge was not present for the meeting.
Council still needs to pass a bylaw for the increase to take effect, which will be done at a future council meeting.
READ MORE: Kelowna treatment service fills health care shortfall for first responders
READ MORE: Central Okanagan regional park dedication earns federal thumbs up
