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Central Saanich council rejects bylaw dealing with council pay increases

Council will still see a smaller pay increase this year under existing remuneration bylaw
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Central Saanich council, top row: Couns. Chris Graham, Gordon Newton, Zeb King and Niall Paltiel, bottom row: Coun. Robert Thompson, Mayor Ryan Windsor and Coun. Sarah Riddell, has voted down a new council remuneration bylaw which would have seen a larger pay increase for 2023. (District of Central Saanich/Submitted)

Central Saanich council has shot down a bylaw which would have officially adopted a new list of comparator municipalities used to calculate council remuneration, and resulted in a slight bump to council pay in 2023.

Despite the failure of the new remuneration bylaw by a vote of 4-3 on March 13 – with Couns. Zeb King, Gordon Newton, Niall Paltiel and Sarah Riddell voting against the bylaw - council will still receive a pay increase this year under the existing remuneration bylaw.

For 2023, remuneration for the mayor will be $59,000 while councillors will receive $25,900. In 2022, the mayor’s remuneration was $41,814 while councillors received $18,153.

If the new bylaw had been approved, the mayor’s pay would have instead jumped to $64,000 and councillors to $27,800, according to the bylaw wording. A staff report presented to council Feb. 21 during the first discussion on adopting a new list of comparators listed pay as increasing to $66,700 for the mayor and $30,800 for councillors, if the new bylaw was adopted.

READ MORE: Taxpayers’ group upset Central Saanich mayor’s pay could jump 59%

Remuneration for council is calculated based on the median remuneration of the list of comparator municipalities, and is also adjusted annually based on the Greater Victoria region’s consumer price index.

Mayor Ryan Windsor previously told the Peninsula News Review the new list of comparators was to include municipalities in the province with populations between 14,000 and 28,000, and to consider how similar service parameters such as budget, police, recreation and others are to the district.

He said the issue with the existing list of comparators was the inclusion of several smaller municipalities which were also less complex. This had resulted in around a $5,000 pay disparity between Central Saanich council and councils of communities with the most similar council work and responsibilities.

Council gave its initial endorsement of the new list of comparators on Feb. 21 by a vote of 5-2, with King and Newton opposed, but that endorsement was subject to a final three readings of the resulting bylaw discussed March 13.

Prior to the final vote, which saw the new remuneration bylaw defeated, several other motions were made in the council chambers.

King first motioned that council refer consideration of the new pay bylaw until two months before the next municipal election, with the intent the resulting additional pay increase would come into effect for the next council, while still leaving enough time for potential council candidates to become aware of the increased pay and factor that into their decision whether to run.

But that motion failed by a vote of 5-2 against.

Windsor then motioned the new bylaw be given first reading with two amendments. Those amendments would have limited future CPI increases to a maximum of two per cent per year, and required an annual review of non-CPI changes to pay among the comparator municipalities.

That motion also failed by a vote of 5-2 against.

Windsor said during discussion for the final motion – to simply adopt the new bylaw with no amendments – he will not attempt to discuss the issue of new remuneration comparators again.

READ MORE: North Saanich councillor who called mayor ‘Mr. Hitler’ is now resigning


@JSamanski


justin.samanski-langille@goldstreamgazette.com

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