Mayor continues salary freeze, Leibovici opts for 3.5-per-cent hike, Krushell and Iveson donate $2,500 to donate-a-ride

EDMONTON – Three Edmonton city councillors and the mayor have opted to take a lower raise than allowed for 2012.

That’s down from 2011, when eight out of the 13 council members declined some, or all, of the increase.

Council was in line for a 5.35-per-cent increase for 2012, based on a formula set by an independent committee. But Mayor Stephen Mandel will hold his salary at $135,694 for the fourth year in a row this year. If he had taken all the raises available, he would be at $158,813.

Councillors Kim Krushell and Don Iveson both donated $2,500 of their eligible salary increase to the city’s donate-a-ride program this year, and Coun. Karen Leibovici chose to accept a 3.5 per cent increase instead, giving her a salary of $86,410.

Councillors who accepted all of the eligible increases will be getting $87,955 this year, a third of which is tax-free. Councillors also receive a vehicle allowance of $578 a month, while the mayor gets $1,158.

Those amounts are not increasing this year. The details were released on a city website Friday.

Coun. Ben Henderson said he accepted the raise because “I think we should be kept as far out of this as we can.”

The salaries are calculated based on a formula set up by an independent committee. If the salaries are wrong, the formula should be changed, Henderson said. A new committee is scheduled to be struck this year to look again at council compensation, he said.

Last year, council was facing a 4.6-per-cent pay increase and held a long debate in council on the issue.

It voted on motions to freeze, reduce or postpone increases until contracts with civic unions were completed. In the end, it decided to leave to process as it was.

A report presented during that debate showed that over the previous 10 years, council salaries rose 34 per cent, compared with 37 per cent for most of the city’s unionized staff and nearly 40 per cent for police and firefighters.

Calgary councillors use the same formula for pay hikes as Edmonton. They now earn $107,539 and Mayor Naheed Nenshi earns $201,839.

List of 2012 Salaries for Edmonton’s mayor and city councillors:

Mayor Mandel $135,694

Councillor Anderson $87,955

Councillor Batty $87,955

Councillor Caterina $87,955

Councillor Diotte $87,955

Councillor Gibbons $87,955

Councillor Henderson $87,955

Councillor Iveson $85,4501

Councillor Krushell $85,4552

Councillor Leibovici $86,4103

Councillor Loken $87,955

Councillor Sloan $87,955

Councillor Sohi $87,955

Councillor Iveson directed that $2,505 of the 2011 and 2012 eligible salary be donated to the Donate-a-Ride program.

Councillor Krushell directed that $2,500 of the 2012 eligible salary be donated to the Donate-a-Ride program.

Councillor Leibovici directed that a 3.5% increase be applied to the 2011 eligible salary.

Councillor Sohi indicated that he intends to donate $1,850.50 of the 2011 eligible salary to non-profit community charities in Ward 12.