Vancouver city councillors are under fire following a raise they gave themselves rather quietly last month.
The motion that includes an $8,900 pay bump per year for councillors, which brings their salaries to $80,000 annually, was passed on Feb. 24 but not reported to the media.
While the increase can be attributed to inflation, another factor taken into account was the salaries of other Canadian municipalities similar to Vancouver’s.
The city identified 12 municipalities in Western Canada, British Columbia and Ontario that were similar Vancouver’s. The scope of services like public transit, emergency and ambulance services, electrical utility, social housing and child and family services in each city, were taken into account.
The review of the compensation packages provided to city council members included the following information using the city’s 2015 operational budget : compensation (base salary, additional salaries, tax-free allowances); perquisites; health and welfare benefits; other benefits and allowances; retirement plan and retirement allowance/transition payments.
So where do Vancouver city councillors fall in the pay scale compared to 12 other cities?
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