A special Metro Vancouver board meeting was held on Thursday morning with cost savings on the agenda.
The meeting cost taxpayers more than $20,000 as each director present – 39 – received a $534 stipend each, totalling $20,826.
However, there will have to be another meeting as it wrapped with no final solution.
Metro Vancouver has come under intense scrutiny recently, starting with the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant, which is billions over budget.
Mayors have also faced questions about their compensation packages, as they earn their salaries and are paid additional remuneration to sit on various boards.
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The regional district has at least 16 different committees and paying all the elected officials to attend can add up.
According to 2019 financial plans, there was $2.9 million budgeted for administrative services. That jumped to $4.6 million in 2024.
Metro Vancouver said the increase was because more politicians were appointed to standing committees and task forces.
“You have mayors who are attending Mayors’ Council meetings and they’re charging extra to attend a meeting that they should be doing as just part of their job as being a mayor and that’s what’s raising a lot of eyebrows,” said New Westminster City Councillor Daniel Fontaine.
Since 2019, the fee for Metro Vancouver Board members to attend meetings has climbed from $397 to $534. That fee doubles if the meeting goes over four hours.
“How much of this can the taxpayer take?” Richmond councillor Kash Heed said.
“And we have to really question whether the authority, which is the provincial government, will intervene and say enough’s enough.”
The board is now looking at the feasibility of cutting millions in external contributions and program spending, including the half million it spends every year at the PNE, along with other cost-cutting measures.
But in a budget that is more than $3 billion annually, the potential savings amount to a few dollars per household per year.
The board did not come to a conclusion on Thursday, instead asking staff to prepare further reports on several line items that could be eliminated or reduced.
Earlier this week, B.C. Premier David Eby said he was “disappointed to be disappointed again by Metro Vancouver.”
He added that he does have confidence in the review that is underway into Metro Vancouver and that it will include all aspects of governance such as spending.
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