Estevan city council has tabled a report from the committee tasked with reviewing the compensation for council members for the rest of the current term.
Monica Kovach, Kevin Smith and Bernadette Wright, who comprised the council remuneration committee, presented their report at Monday night’s council meeting.
The committee was struck after the federal government decided to no longer provide tax exemptions for non-accountable allowances. Those allowances represent one-third of the compensation for municipal council and school board officials. It means a decrease in take-home pay for council members.
If the city is looking to keep salaries whole, the mayor and council annual wages would need to increase.
In the case of Mayor Roy Ludwig, without the non-accountable allowances exemption, his net pay would drop from $3,040.36 to $2,676.09 per month.
The six councillors, who receive $14,982 annually, would see their net pay drop from $1,029.44 to $907.97 per month, a decrease of $121.47.
To offset the lost money, Ludwig’s gross pay would have to increase $6,886 to $52,730 per year, while councillors would increase $2,094 to $17,375 this year.
Kovach pointed out the committee was presented with four options: to do nothing for the mayor and councillor salaries, creating a shortfall for them; increase their stipends to recoup half of the money they are losing; provide full compensation for the rest of the mayor and councillors’ term; and consider the MLA salary formula to connect the mayor and councillor wages to the salary of Saskatchewan’s MLAs.
The committee recommended the 50 per cent compromise, with the mayor receiving an additional $3,443 this year, and each councillor getting $1,047, retroactive to Jan. 1.
Multiple meetings were needed for the committee to come up with the recommendation.
Kovach noted that the committee wasn’t unanimous in their decision to have a compromise increase, as Wright was in opposition.
Councillors Shelly Veroba and Dennis Moore were also opposed to the recommendation. Veroba said she thought council’s compensation should remain the same for the bulk of the term, even if it costs them money.
“A wage scale was already in place when I got elected in 2016, and the wage scale was for 2016-2020,” said Veroba.
She has spoken with many taxpayers in Estevan, and couldn’t find one who thought it was OK to increase council’s wages.
“I know that other communities have done it. That’s fine. They felt it was right,” said Veroba.
Moore said he would have rather seen council be fully compensated for the wages they would lose, or not receive an increase at all, than have the 50-50 solution that was provided.
“Fifty per cent is like teasing a dog,” said Moore. “What would you want to do that for?”
But other council members voiced their support, including Councillor Trevor Knibbs, who said things beyond council’s control have changed.
“We’re giving 100 per cent, and I think that’s something deserved by all of council,” said Knibbs.
Councillor Travis Frank suggested going with the MLA option, and pointed out Estevan is among the lower paid councils in the province, but he also said he supports the compromise option.
Councillor Lyle Yanish wanted to know how they came up with half. Smith, a former city councillor, said council members have expenses that are unaccounted for, and he wanted council to be compensated accordingly.
Kovach pointed out that the Rural Municipality of Estevan council kept the same wage for the rest of the term.
“I know if you look at most of the other cities, they kept their net (compensation) whole,” said Ludwig.
Yorkton and Swift Current did not have an increase.
After the meeting, Wright said she didn’t agree with the committee’s recommendation, citing her agreement with Moore. She also wanted the committee to do more due diligence before filing its report.
Kovach pointed out that they did receive one written statement from the public, who believed council should not receive an increase in compensation.
Ludwig said he wanted council to table the motion to the next meeting, scheduled for April 22, so that they would have time to receive more feedback from the public, and because he wanted to have all members of council in attendance to make the decision.
“I wouldn’t mind getting more feedback. I know where I work (at the mines) there are 400 people who love to give me their feelings and their feedback.”
Councillor Greg Hoffort was absent from the meeting.
Ludwig also voiced his interest in having council wages connected in some way to those of the MLAs, because it would create certainty moving forward.
