BANFF – Town of Banff employees could get a 5.4 per cent cost of living increase next year.
On Monday (Sept. 12), Banff’s governance and finance committee approved the updated Alberta CPI of 5.4 per cent as the basis for the annual adjustment of Town of Banff wages for the 2023 operating budget.
Guidance in Banff’s financial plan for the staff wage increase is based on an average of Alberta CPI and a calculation of average weekly earnings in Alberta, however mayor and councillors have again opted to go with just the Alberta CPI instead of the blend.
“I do believe inflation rates are quite high,” said Councillor Hugh Pettigrew during the brief committee meeting.
“We’re kind of following the same philosophy as the past two years after taking the bad, and now we’re back in the good.”
In August, the governance and finance committee approved the municipality’s financial plan with a 5.1 per cent wage adjustment, but that was based on CPI estimates and not the actuals that came in at a 5.4 per cent increase.
For 2021, the Alberta average weekly earnings calculation was 7.7 per cent whereas Alberta CPI was 1.4 per cent, leading to what would have been a 4.6 per cent wage increase for Town of Banff staff.
Similarly, in 2022, the average weekly earnings calculation was 8.8 per cent and the Alberta CPI was 1.6 per cent, which would have meant a 4.6 per cent increase in wages based on financial plan direction.
However, in both years, council chose to go with the lower Alberta CPI based on the economic uncertainty associated with the COVID-19 pandemic – and has chosen to do so again this year as well.
Had the council opted to go with direction in the financial plan, the increase would have been in the range of 1.3 per cent, based on the initial estimate of 5.1 per cent increase to CPI and a negative 2.5 per cent average weekly earnings adjustment.
Andrea Stuart, finance manager for the Town of Banff, said this calculation is accurate in terms of the wording of the financial plan.
“However, it does not align with the spirit of the financial plan in that the annualized wage adjustment has not been used by council during the last two budget deliberations,” she said.
Town Manager Kelly Gibson said results of a compensation review will be presented at the next governance and finance committee meeting on Sept. 26.
He also said the decision at governance and finance committee is not necessarily the final decision on wages.
“Any decision made through the financial plan is open to debate as part of service review and the budget discussions related to that,” he said.
