A new committee will recommend how much city councillors should be paid.
The city has formed a committee of five citizens to take on the project, which is expected to deliver a recommendation by Christmas, said city manager Bill Holtby.
The members are:
• Rick Sloan, a former assistant deputy minister and current advisor to Edmonton’s general manager of planning and development
• Ken MacKay, who has served on many City of St. Albert committees including the Servus Place review committee and community services advisory board
• Nancy Bochard, a human resources professional with experience on advisory boards of the Alberta Motor Association and the Management Employees Pension Plan
• Bruce Garriock, an Alberta Provincial Court judge with a varied background on boards and volunteering
• Neil Korotash, a former two-term councillor who is now a school teacher
The city had eight candidates from which to select the five volunteers, Holtby said. He and chief financial officer Dean Screpnek reviewed the applications and interviewed the candidates. They tried to get a mix of backgrounds so they could assemble a board that would provide an unbiased look at councillors’ salaries.
“I believe that these individuals bring a wide range of experience and perspective to the committee,” Holtby said.
The city’s council remuneration policy stipulates pay comparisons should be performed in even-numbered years and changes implemented in odd-numbered years, keeping salaries at the 60th percentile compared to a group of five other mid-sized Alberta municipalities.
Adhering to that policy in 2011 would have seen the mayor’s salary increase 8.75 per cent to $92,155 a year and councillors’ salaries jump 4.84 per cent to $30,991. Council backed away from approving those numbers earlier this year, deciding instead to create a committee of citizens to form a recommendation.
Coun. Len Bracko, in his fifth term, thinks the committee is a transparent way of deciding council salaries.
“I don’t know if there’s any perfect way,” he said. “There’s transparency and accountability that I think the public would demand.”
He likes the presence of former councillor Neil Korotash, who Bracko feels will bring a younger perspective and also insight into the workload that part-time councillors face.
“He’s been on there part-time. He knows the stresses of it, so I think [the committee will get] very intelligent input from Neil,” Bracko said.
