BANFF – A public committee has recommended salaries of Banff’s mayor and councillors be increased following the October municipal election.
If approved by council, the full-time mayor’s base salary will jump 1.4 per cent from $96,721 to $98,075 after the Oct. 18 election until the end of 2022, followed by a 2.5 per cent inflationary increase each year from 2023-25.
Moving from $31,249 to $32,692 after being sworn in, the proposed 2021-25 councillor annual base remuneration would be calculated at one-third of that of the mayoral annual salary, reflecting the part-time nature of the job.
Connie MacDonald, chair of the public council compensation review committee, said the mayor’s current salary is six per cent below comparable municipalities such as Canmore, Okotoks, Airdrie and Cochrane.
“We felt like it’s a modest increase and we felt it was really important to keep pace with the cost of living,” she said, adding council wages were also a bit below average. “What ends up happening is somewhere down the road a more significant bump is always put into place.”
Town council, however, had mixed views on the committee’s recommendations.
Mayor Karen Sorensen and councillors Corrie DiManno and Grant Canning voiced support for the public committee’s recommendations, while councillors Peter Poole, Brian Standish and Ted Christensen wanted to hold the line on wages for 2021-22, with any potential increases not starting until 2023.
Councillor Chip Olver was absent from the meeting, so given the stalemate, the matter will come back to council for further discussion at its next regular meeting on June 14.
Coun. Poole said the time is not right for a pay raise given the ongoing challenging circumstances facing residents and businesses due to the financial fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said he believes the current wages are fair and appropriate, adding that there were numerous candidates in the 2017 municipal election that speak to just that.
“I would not be able to say that if we did not have such a robust group of people wanting to run and serve on council and so many tenacious incumbents who’ve served well who keep wanting to serve on council,” he said.
“That evidence is enough for me to encourage us to hold the line for now.”
Coun. Brian Standish echoed that, noting he believes the current council compensation package is attractive enough to encourage residents to seek a seat on council.
“I see holding the line for the next year until the end of 2022,” he said. “A 1.4 per cent increase, I don’t believe, is going to make or break the number of candidates that are going to put their name in the hat for the next election.”
Councillors who voiced support for the committee’s recommendations noted the job requires increasing accountability and public engagement to address growing expectations in the community.
In addition, the seven-day-a-week position of mayor has all the responsibilities of the other members of council, but also actively advocates for the Town of Banff at local, provincial, national and even international levels.
For Coun. Corrie DiManno, increasing the mayoral and council salaries is also a move toward encouraging greater diversity at the council table.
She said of the 18 candidates in the 2017 election, there four women, one person of colour and about four people under the age of 40, noting “that might not exactly reflect what our community looks like.”
“I want potential candidates to see this compensation package as attractive and to see how they could work it within their lifestyle,” DiManno said.
“What the committee has put forth is reasonable and fair.”
Mayor Sorensen, who has publicly announced she is not running in the next election after 17 years on council, including three terms as mayor, voiced strong support for the committee’s recommendations.
She said she takes great pride in the process of setting up a public committee to review wages, noting it is done in the year of an upcoming election.
“This was a very clear intention of the previous council to put a public committee on this because it’s very difficult for any council to vote themselves in an increase,” she said.
“I’ve always stayed very firm with what the committee recommends that I will accept. They put in the hours, they’ve done the research and I appreciate that and respect that.”
MacDonald said the committee’s recommendations reflect the unique circumstances of running for office in Banff, which is tourist town drawing millions of people from around the world.
She said the three members of the committee wanted to make sure the compensation reflects the ever increasing demanding nature and responsibility of public office.
“We want to make sure we are attracting motivated and well qualified candidates, but we also understand that compensation must be reasonable to both the council and members of the community,” she said.
The committee also recommended increasing per diem rates for council, which have not been adjusted in four years and are at the low end of the scale compared to the four other municipalities reviewed.
After the election, per diem rates would be $105 for a half day of four hours or less and $210 for more than four hours. For 2023-25, the rates will be based on the previous year per diems plus the municipality’s cost of living adjustment. The existing per diem rate is and $90 per half day and $180 for a full day.
As a full-time position, the mayor does not get per diems or additional compensation for chairing committees or representing the Town of Banff at an agency, board or committee meeting.
The committee is also recommending the Town consider options next term for a parental leave bylaw following changes to the Municipal Government Act.
“Parental leave is another way to increase access for people who may be interested in running as a municipal candidate in the next election,” MacDonald said.
This year’s council compensation review committee was made up of three longtime residents – MacDonald, Marilyn Bell and Hugh Pettigrew.
Pettigrew, who lost his bid to oust Sorensen in the 2017 mayoral race, has previously indicated he’d like to run again; however, no decisions have been made and no nomination papers have been filed at this time.
As of press time, no mayoral candidates had filed nomination papers for the election and only one contender for council – Jessia Carlos Arsenio – filed his papers last week.
