Morinville councillors are a bit better off now that they’ve agreed to compensate for a lost federal tax credit, but still trail the pack when it comes to their take-home pay.
Town council voted unanimously Aug. 27 to increase their base pay/honorarium to compensate for the end of a federal tax credit.
Council also moved to simplify rules around per diem payments, which could mean more money for some.
They did not, however, make any decisions on whether or not to give themselves a raise, deferring such talks to this fall’s budget debate.
A little more money
A report to council last July from consultant Ed Grose found that Morinville’s mayor and councillors currently take home $43,697 and $21,848 in base pay a year, respectively. This put them in the bottom 10 and 20 per cent in terms of council pay when judged against 10 comparable communities.
Municipal leaders used to be able to get a third of their pay tax-free using a federal tax credit, but that credit was eliminated this year, effectively cutting their take-home pay. Town council set aside $30,000 in this year’s budget in case they decided to up their pay to compensate, as some other communities have done.
The Grose report found that compensating for the lost tax credit would mean boosting the mayor’s base pay to $50,251 and councillors’ to $24,929, which would bring them up to the bottom 20 and 30 per cent in terms of pay.
Council supported Coun. Nicole Boutestein’s move to implement that boost effective Jan. 1, 2019.
Boutestein said this change was not an increase, as it simply restored council members to the pay they earned in 2018.
“We’re still putting in the same hours of commitment, and it’s a hard pill to swallow when at the end of the day you’re making $300 less every paycheque.”
The current council remuneration policy, established in 2018, lets council members claim per diem (bonus) payments of $50 to $200 for activities they undertake as official town representatives outside of regular council meetings – specifically conferences, professional development, external board/committee meetings, and meeting MPs and MLAs out of town. Per diems do not apply to social events.
Councillors said last week that this policy discouraged them from attending events that, while social in nature, were valuable for research and regional collaboration, such as parades and the Edmonton Garrison’s business lunch.
Council supported Mayor Barry Turner’s call to have staffers draft a new policy that would see per diems apply to all official council duties that occurred outside of town and the Morinville Leisure Centre. Anything that happened in town or at the centre that was not a meeting of a specific regional organization would be covered by their base pay.
In an interview, Turner said this change would make the rules for per diems “crystal clear” and could encourage councillors to be more active in building regional relations. It would likely mean a couple of extra per diem payments a year for most councillors. Per diems are reported monthly as part of council expenses, ensuring accountability.
Council also backed Coun. Stephen Dafoe’s move to cap the amount of per diem payments a council member could claim in a year.
A raise?
The Grose report found that council would have to increase mayoral and councillor pay by about 43 and 39 per cent, respectively, after adjusting for the loss of the federal tax credit, to reach the median level among the communities examined.
Coun. Nicole Boutestein said some sort of raise should kick in next year, as council was well below average for pay and the current rates made it very difficult to convince people to run for office.
“We’ve had one raise in 10 years,” she said, and they also waived their cost-of-living increase in one of those years.
Coun. Sarah Hall agreed that council was “grossly underpaid,” but said any pay change should apply to the next council, not the current one.
“I do not feel comfortable giving myself a raise.”
Council voted 4-3 (Hall, Dafoe, Turner opposed) to consider the pay changes recommended by the Grose report during this fall’s budget debate.
