Council Remuneration Update
At a recent meeting, Council adopted a new remuneration policy for themselves which will see their increases set at the rate of increase in the BC Cost of Living Index. They took this action in the face of a recommendation from city staff that they should be awarded a 16% increase in line with previous Council policy.
The Board of the Regional District of Nanaimo on which seven of our nine Councillors sit was more generous with itself, voting for what I understand to be an 11% increase. Whether our Councillors who sit on the Board raised any questions about this generosity is unknown.
Council Remuneration
Serving on city council is often somehow thought of as volunteer community service. In fact, Council offers real job opportunities.The 2008 salary of a mayor of Nanaimo is $76,911 and Councillors receive $25,539. As one third of Council’s pay is tax free, these salaries are effectively considerably higher than they appear. In addition to these sums all Council members receive expenses for travel, conferences and other job related matters. In 2007 expenses averaged $4457 and ranged from $236 to over $6511 per individual. There are also a number of smaller perks which members of Council enjoy, such as a computer, blackberry, etc. In addition, seven of the nine elected members of Nanaimo’s City Council sit on the Board of the Regional District of Nanaimo. Selecting the seven from the nine is not done by the number of votes cast as Loyd Sherry learned after the last election, but can be done arbitrarily. In 2008 the pay for a Nanaimo Councillorsitting on the Board of the Regional District is $9371. Again, one third of this pay is tax free. And of course there are also expenses.
In 2008 a Nanaimo mayor sitting on the RDN board will take home $86,282 (taxed on $57,521), while six councillors take home $34,910 (taxed on 23,273) and two take home $25,539 (taxed on $17,025), plus expenses.
Nor do members of Council have to give up their day jobs. Councillors can continue working their regular jobs just as they did before being elected and most meetings are held outside normal working hours. Is it any wonder that sitting members of Council have been willing to spend up to $3.59 per vote received in the 2005 election, (much of it money donated in large sums by donors who do business with the city) or that Council has become a career for so many who sit on it?
Source: The Statement of Financial Information for the City of Nanaimo and
The Statement of Financial Information for the Regional District of Nanaimo