When it comes to large civic issues, nothing it seems attracts interest like City Councillors and Mayors looking to upgrade their compensation packages.
For an example as to how that theme resonates with the public, the City of Victoria Council members have recently experienced what for them seems to be a startling moment of realization.
With some of the consensus perhaps to inform them, that they aren't as important to the scheme of things as they think they are.
The topic of compensation in the provincial capital came up this week, as Victoria's Council reviewed some feedback from the public on their call for some pretty sweet pay increases of up to 50 percent from current levels.
Salaries which are currently listed at $43,896 for Councillors, with Mayor Lisa Helps receiving close to $110,000 for her work.
Towards that ambitious request for more, the replies found that 86 percent of those who responded to the survey said No, No, No.
Which pretty well should shut the door on that idea, though they do have three years to go in their civic mandates, before having to face the voters again, so anything is possible one imagines.
Councillor Isitt responds to public opposition to pay raise
Victoria council pay hike panned by public in online survey
Victoria residents overwhelmingly opposed to councillor pay raise
Survey respondents bash idea of Victoria City Councillors getting a pay raise
Survey says don't raise Victoria council pay, spend more on policing: city report
One of the members leading the push for increased council compensation came from Councillor Ben Isitt, who is a bit of a lightning rod for municipal issues in the capital.
Mr. Isitt having previously earned some infamy by suggesting that veterans should foot the bill for policing on Remembrance Day, another initiative that didn't go over well either as things turned.
Rebuffed on the latest plan to top up their salaries, the Councillor is now offering up his thoughts as to how perhaps the time has come for the public and council to hold a discussion on what they expect from their council members, as well as a suggestion of a scaling back of their duties.
Victoria City Councillor Ben Isitt continues to push for 50 per cent pay hike
Victoria Councillor Ben Isitt calls for limitatoin of council duties in response to survey results
And if the early comments from the number of news article on the topic are an indication, the Councillor and anyone who may have similar thoughts on the horrors of their work load might want to consider another line of work.
Such at least has been the unofficial guidance from the comments sections from the news services.
Still, at least the Victoria council members consulted the public on a controversial issue.
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| When it came to guidance on salary increases for Prince Rupert City Council they turned to a Select Panel of community members to deliver a report |
Prince Rupert City Council took a different path towards compensation earlier this year, leaving out any thoughts of actual public consultation, with Mayor Lee Brain instead introducing a Select panel of community members to sort out the details and make a recommendation.
And after their work was complete at the end of February, the Select panel's findings delivered a return to full times status and compensation for Mayor Brain with a yearly salary set at $75,000, not including his additional compensation for Regional District and other Boards.
For their part, Council members received a top up to $18,750, which is now set at 25 percent of the mayors salary.
In a recent survey from CBC Television, Prince Rupert's recent salary increases propelled them to the top of compensation listings for across Northwest BC.
While not formally tied into the compensation plan, there were opportunities for the public to weigh in on the Prince Rupert plan as part of the Budget process earlier this year; however few residents in Prince Rupert seem to have much motivation to express their opinions on civic issues these days.
Prince Rupert Council approved their salary increases at a Special Session of Council on April 18th.
Still, one wonders what kind of guidance Prince Rupert Council may have received, had they chosen to go with a similar initiative as that of Victoria. Offering up their own highly promoted public feedback request, prior to their votes of approval of the Spring.
For more notes on municipal items from City Hall see our Council Discussion page here.
Cross posted from the North Coast Review.
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