Councillors in Victoria, B.C., are pressing pause on their decision to give themselves a pay raise.
Last month, first-time councillors Jeremy Caradonna and Matt Dell tabled a motion to formally recognize council work as a full-time job and increase pay to 50 per cent of what Victoria’s mayor makes. Council had commissioned a third-party study that compared remuneration between 11 B.C. cities and seven cities in other parts of Canada.
Victoria Mayor Marianne Alto currently earns $131,050, which meant councillors stood to earn $65,525 — up from $52,420 — as early as May 1.
The motion passed five votes to three.
“Last couple of weeks, I have received 150 to 200 emails about the process by which we made the decision,” Caradonna said during a Thursday council meeting.
WATCH | Councillors in 2 B.C. municipalities vote for pay raise
Councillors in Victoria and Kelowna have voted to increase their base salaries.The majority argued municipal governance is a full-time job no matter the size of the city and increased pay is needed to meet demands and attract candidates. Our Chad Pawson breaks down what’s happening.
Caradonna brought a new motion to the table Thursday calling for the city manager to create an independent task force made up of leaders from non-profit, labour, government and business sectors.
The task force will review the consultant’s report, interview councillors, and then make a recommendation by July on whether councillors should receive a raise and determine when any changes should be implemented.
“I think it totally makes sense to push pause, pump the brakes,” Dell said.
The last formal remuneration review in Victoria was in 2008. Councillors argued last month that since that time the city has grown significantly and was facing increasingly difficult problems such as homelessness, street crime and mental health and addictions.
In supporting Thursday’s vote, Coun. Krista Loughton said she recognized the importance of paying the mayor and councillors appropriately, but expressed concern about having to approve pay increases.
“This has been humiliating [to be forced to determine your own salaries] … Engaging an independent task force is a good idea,” Loughton said.
Kelowna city council voted 5–3 last month in favour of increasing the mayor’s base salary to $145,200 from $126,497.29 and councillors’ pay from $42,991.14 to $58,080. A staff report said the pay bump would bring Kelowna in line with similar cities.