Members of a citizen committee that reviewed council pay and perks a few years ago say any new plans to scrutinize council salaries should be done with more community input.
Council agreed Monday to review non-union and union staff salaries, as well as the pay for councillors and the mayor. An independent consultant will conduct the review working with a steering committee of Mayor Nolan Crouse, Coun. Roger Lemieux and a still-to-be-selected St. Albert resident at large.
Council approved up to $100,000 for the consultant, with the funds coming from the city's rainy day reserve.
A key component of the review will be determining how to give council members raises. The mayor currently receives a base salary of $84,700, while councillors are paid 35 per cent of that, or $29,500. One-third of council salaries are tax free.
Salaries are determined by comparing wages of mayors in cities such as Grande Prairie, Red Deer, Medicine Hat and Lethbridge. St. Albert's rate is then set at the 60th percentile of that group.
The report also said council remuneration should be recalculated every three years and the policy examined every six years.
According to the terms of reference, the review will also look at hours of work. Currently, only the mayor is considered a full-time position, while councillors are considered part-time.
Committee ignored
Jim Connolly, a member of the citizen committee that reviewed council pay and perks starting in 2003, was disappointed when the council of the day did not adopt all of the group's 18 recommendations in 2004. "We had some really good recommendations and they ignored them," he said. "I'd hate to say it, but to me it was a lot like what the provincial and federal government does. They do these things with people and they don't listen to what the people say."
Connolly isn't pleased the new committee only has one public representative. He also slammed council's desire to hire a consultant for the review.
Community members were more than able to come up with new ideas for reimbursing council members, he said.
"We've been consulted to death."
Duncan Robertson, a now-retired certified accountant who also sat on the pay and perks committee, said the old format of five community members sitting on the board was the best method for determining council remuneration.
"I thought the previous model worked really well," said Robertson. "At times, we were able to think outside the box because of the number."
When the issue of making councillors a full-time position arose, Robertson said he did not agree with the idea in 2004 because, as he put it, St. Albert councillors don't have as many responsibilities as those in Edmonton.
"I recall a discussion where someone said the size of St. Albert was the size of one ward in Edmonton," he said.
Mayor Nolan Crouse said the 2004 report would not play a role in the upcoming review, but suggested those who are on the new committee could benefit from reading the document.
He added the former committee members would not be part of the new review. The compensation report would come back to council in November for budget discussions.
