Kitimat tops up the pay packages for Mayor and Council

Kitimat Council approved salary increases for the Mayor and
Councillors at their November 1st session

Residents of the District of Kitimat will be rewarding their Council with some additional pay this year, that as the District members approved a new pay scale for the elected officials, with both the Mayor and Councillors to receive their top up retroactively to January of this year.

The move wasn't unanimous on the night, with two of the Councillors, Feldhoff and Goffinet opposing the move citing some of the financial challenges facing the community at the moment.

The pay discussion comes at the end of a year which saw the District's largest employer Rio Tinto just get back to production following a strike in late August.

The new salaries which are tied into the Consumer Prince Index will see Kitimat Mayor Phil Germuth receive $46,732.58 in 2022, while Council members will receive a salary of $25,90.82 in the year ahead.

The details were relayed through a report for Kitimat Council.

Salary report for Kitimat Council
(click to enlarge)

The Kitimat decision could make for an eye catching number for the member on Prince Rupert City Council, who now find the they are some 6,000 dollars plus behind the new Kitimat benchmark. 

The 2021 SOFI Report  from June this year  charted the salaries of Mayor and Council for 2020 listed the Prince Rupert Councillor remuneration as $18,750 for 2020. 

Mayor Lee Brain will however remain the top paid Municipal leader west of Prince George, the 2020 report on salaries listed Mr. Brain's salary as $75,440 along with $7,385 in expenses. 

The Mayor and some of the councillors also qualify for salaries from other bodies such as Regional District and Hospital Board.

Prince Rupert's city Council went through their own salary review back in 2019, when they acted on  the findings of the Mayor's Blue Ribbon Select Standing Committee which outlined what it believed would be fair compensation for the city's elected officials and returned the Mayor's position to that of full time status.

Prince Rupert Council approved the salary bump of 2019 in April of that year. 

At that vote, only Councillor Gurvinder Randhawa spoke against the salary increase plans, offering up his own version for consideration, which was not acted on by Council.

On Monday evening, many of the themes from Kitimat sounded familiar to those of two years ago in Prince Rupert.  

As they discussed the merits of the pay increase, the Kitimat council observed that they were moving forward with their plans for the salary increase, some of their focus towards making municipal government service more attractive for residents to consider becoming involved with.

You can review the full discussion on the salary themes from the District of Kitimat video starting at the 40 minute mark of their Council evening.

With 2022 an election year, it would seem likely that the topic of compensation may make for a conversation topic for municipal leaders across the region as they prepare to run again, or new comers consider mounting a challenge to those currently holding a seat.

More notes on the work of Kitimat council can be examined here.

The same review of the Prince Rupert Council membership is available here.

Cross posted from the North Coast Review.