By Angela Brown

City Hall

City council looking at changing remuneration policy

Jan 29, 2019 | 11:00 AM

City lawmakers examined council remuneration Monday night, but decided to table a proposal until they receive more information.

Council is considering basing their pay on an MLA’s salary in the new proposal, similar to many other municipalities.

“The previous policy tied council remuneration to the city manager’s salary which effectively gives council the power to change its own salary,” Mayor Ryan Bater told reporters following the meeting. “Council didn’t feel that was appropriate.”

The policy will return at council’s next meeting for a final decision after administration presents more information.

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The proposed breakdown would see the mayor receive 70 per cent of the 2018 annual salary for a Saskatchewan MLA, equating to $67,328. A councillor would receive 35 per cent of the mayor’s pay, which works out to $23,565.

In 2018, when the mayor’s salary was based on the city manager’s, the mayor took home $66,384, and a councillor saw $23,220.

Lawmakers expressed thier concern about a federal tax exemption that is being eliminated in 2019, which will impacting municipal councillors’ salaries across the country.

City manager Randy Patrick said other municipalities in Saskatchewan are increasing their council’s compensation to make up for the loss.

“That’s the downloading portion of it,” Patrick said. “By losing the tax benefit that was there, that now potentially creates new charges for cities to have to compensate.”

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) had previously advised municipalities of the long-standing “one-third” federal tax exemption for elected officials expiring on Jan. 1 this year, which reduces elected officials after-tax compensation.

Previously, up to one-third of elected official’s total compensation was tax exempt. The aim of the exemption was to provide an allowance for work-related expenses for municipal and provincial elected officials.

In 2017, the FCM passed a resolution requesting the federal government retain the exemption, and followed up in 2018 so municipal officials wouldn’t lose the benefit.

However, according to the FCM, federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau had responded in a letter to the FCM saying the federal government was taking steps “to bring the tax treatment of non-accountable allowances to municipal office holders in line with that afforded to other employees.”

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angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow