A Coquitlam councillor wants B.C. to take away her power to vote herself a pay increase.
Hers, and everyone else’s who sits on a municipal council.
WATCH: Metro Vancouver pay reversal
“I’m not bringing this forward so much for me personally, or me as a Coquitlam city councillor,” said Coun. Teri Towner.
“I just think the system’s broken.”
Towner brought a motion to Coquitlam council on Monday night that sought the establishment of an independent body to look at “fair and reasonable determination of remuneration for elected local government officials.”
READ MORE: Port Coquitlam mayor’s pay was just hiked by $25,000. Here’s why that happened
It was the second time the motion had appeared on a council agenda after having been deferred from a meeting on June 11.
The motion expressed worry that the “concept of elected officials voting on their own salaries raises many concerns among residents, and can have the effect of diminishing trust in local government.”
It asked the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) to request that the provincial government put together an independent commission that would “review and set remuneration for elected local government officials.”
Towner’s motion also asked that this resolution be submitted to the UBCM for consideration at its 2018 annual convention.
“People come up to me and there’s very strong feelings out there,” Towner told Global News.
“It’s a conflict of interest, it diminishes the public trust, all that, that kind of narrative out there when we vote ourselves any kind of change to our remuneration.”
The issue of politicians voting to hike their own pay reached a fever pitch earlier this year when members of the Metro Vancouver Regional District Board voted to give themselves a one-time retirement allowance and pay increase of 15 per cent, for a package that would have cost taxpayers $500,000.
The board scrapped the plan a month later.
READ MORE: One month after voting itself a pay hike, Metro Vancouver’s board has scrapped the plan
“People want to serve the public, but when they have to vote themselves in their own raise, and then take the frenzy that goes with that, it’s not attractive for a lot of people,” Towner said.
At council on Monday night, the motion was withdrawn, with the expectation that it would be dealt with at a later date, and look at having it on the agenda for the UBCM convention.
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