Judging by the unanimous vote last week, council apparently had no qualms with giving the city’s 300 non-union employees an average 3.9 per cent wage hike this year. It’s interesting then, that after the in camera discussion, Mayor Nolan Crouse asked city administration to create a terms of reference to have an independent third party conduct a salary review.
The disconnect between how council voted and what is now being asked of administration points to greater problems with how the city and council handle salary reviews. Currently, every two years city administration conducts a salary survey where wage information is collected from ‘comparable’ Alberta municipalities and regional employers like the province and University of Alberta. Administration uses that data to recommend raises for itself so that salaries are at the 60th percentile of the comparators, putting St. Albert towards the upper half of that group.
As holders of the public purse it’s council’s job to ensure taxpayers’ dollars are being spent wisely. In most cases that means spending decisions are debated and made in open chambers in full view of the public. That did not happen in this case, where all discussion was shuttered behind closed doors and even the most basic information, like the report explaining the raises, has been kept firmly under wraps.
If councillors had concerns about the salary survey or the methodology used the public would have no way of knowing. The city’s loose interpretation of privacy legislation means the public can only guess at the type and quality of questions raised by council. It’s a much different approach than other municipalities from the comparator group that discuss raises in public, including most recently the City of Red Deer, where non-union staff received two per cent raises. The City of Lethbridge also allowed the public to scrutinize wage proposals after its 2008 salary survey. Though not part of the city’s comparators, Sturgeon County released a range of data about its last salary survey, including a breakdown of average wages by job category.
The lack of public disclosure is only part of the problem with the biennial survey. Most municipalities conduct similar reviews, meaning a payday is all but guaranteed as local administrations play catch up with each other. The methodology used also means raises that were handed out two years ago during stronger economic times can influence earnings today, when many private-sector employers — and even the provincial bureaucracy — are dealing with wage freezes and layoffs.
While there’s no question the city must be able to retain a highly capable workforce, recent salary surveys and cost of living increases leave the impression the economic downturn miraculously skipped over St. Albert. During the last three years staff salaries have jumped an average of 15 per cent. Wages represent 43 per cent of the city’s operating budget.
The mayor’s call for an independent salary review should be applauded if it ends the long-standing conflict of interest of having an administration recommend its own raises. But opening the review to a third party means very little if the process is kept under wraps. Shutting out the public might help mitigate controversy, but it does not serve the public interest in a city where 66 per cent of revenue comes from taxpayers. The public deserves to know where its dollars are being spent and who is pulling the reins.
