Regional municipalities are examining their salaries and compensation packages for employees in a bid to pay fairly, stay competitive and retain employees.
The Towns of Banff, Canmore, Cochrane and the MD of Bighorn met in Banff on March 19 to look at trends in compensation, particularly given predictions of a large worker shortage in Alberta.
Banff is forking out $25,000 for an external compensation review, which will look at the Town’s overall compensation system, such as the grid system, hourly rates versus salary, methods of pay and factors to award rates of pay.
“A very common feeling is that municipalities are continually being asked to do more with less resources and everybody is feeling that,” said Banff Mayor Karen Sorensen.
“How do we retain our employees, and at the same time, make the people who fund us feel good about how we compensate? The intention is to compare what we’re doing to what other municipalities are doing.”
Canmore Mayor Ron Casey said Canmore, too, is doing a compensation review in a bid to stay competitive, especially given a worker shortage that may pale in comparison to 2007 and with jobs opening up in the oil and gas industry.
While he said there hasn’t been a great deal of turnover at the municipality since 2007, he said it’s appropriate to start thinking about this now and try to get ahead.
“On a dollar-to-dollar basis, it’s very hard to compete against those type of industries, like the oil industry, so we have to look at the total compensation package,” he said.
“If we can’t offer dollars and cents, we have to be able to offer something unique and different to attract employees and also to retain employees.”
In both Banff and Canmore, employees are paid based on a salary structure pay grid, where they can progress up the steps in a grid based on experience and increasing performance.
Once at the top, though, there are only cost-of-living increases, unless an employee is promoted or the position itself changes in scope so dramatically as to require a reclassification.
Unlike Banff, Canmore also has what’s known as a long service increment (LSI), where the maximum range of the grid is increased for those employees who have completed six years or more of service with the Town of Canmore.
It doesn’t mean that anyone who has worked at Canmore for six years or more is automatically being paid at the LSI rate; it just means they have the opportunity to reach the LSI amount.
While there are exceptions, Town of Canmore employees appear to have the potential to earn more money than their Banff counterparts, particularly given the LSI amount.
Canmore’s chief administrator officer position can earn in the range of $160,000 to $200,000 on the pay grid, while Banff’s town manager can earn a minimum of $154,317.00 and a maximum of $221,839.
(At the City of Calgary, which has 16,000 employees including seasonal workers, the city’s top bureaucrat will serve his final years with a roughly $323,000 annual salary.)
Banff’s corporate services manager, engineering manager, planning and development manager, operations manager and fire chief can earn between $94,003 at the low end and $117,481 at the top end.
Banff’s community services manager pay grid is set at a minimum of $86,359 and a maximum of $107,926.
The human resources manager for Banff, the communications manager and deputy fire chief range from $81,263 as a minimum and $101,537 at the top end of the scale.
The grid for Banff’s municipal clerk, which was recently vacated by a long-time Banff employee to take up a job with the Town of Canmore, is $52,525 to $64,682.
In Canmore, the scale for the municipal clerk, along with managerial positions for recreation and facility services, human resources and community enrichment, ranges from $79,042 to $99,135. The LSI amount is $104,085.
Also in Canmore, the position of general manager of municipal services and general manager of municipal infrastructure is on a scale of $109,800 to $137,719. The LSI amount is $144,599.
Canmore’s managers of planning and development, financial services, fire chief, public works, engineering, facilities and protective services can earn a minimum of $91,273 and a maximum of $110,619. LSI is $116,152.
Casey said it’s important to retain employees and last month’s compensation workshop – led by Gervais Goodman of Goodman, McDougall & Associates – helped exchange ideas.
“The truth is, if you start to lose staff because of wages, then you start to question whether you pay enough,” he said. “But this is more than just about wages, this is looking at a complete compensation package.”
The workshop covered trends in compensation and what motivates employees in general, and between the different age groups, such as flexible working schedule, telecommuting, retirement planning, base pay, etc.
“A huge focus was the value of benefits other than base pay and I am not just speaking to health benefits, I am talking about flexible time, enjoyment of the work culture and interesting work,” said Sorensen.
“There are different things that you can do outside of base pay that employees find beneficial and so how do you articulate the value of those benefits as part of that package?”
In Banff, there have been no adjustments to grids or grid structure since 2006.
Cost of living increases in Banff have ranged from a low of 1.2 per cent in 2011 to a high of five per cent in 2008 over the last five years, while Canmore has seen a low of 0.08 per cent this year and a high of five per cent in 2009.
In 2009, Banff’s employees saw a wage freeze, which included a step freeze in that no one moved up steps in the grid regardless of performance. Municipal employees in Canmore received no cost of living allowance (COLA) increase in 2011.
As for Bow Valley politicians, Canmore’s councillors will be paid a base amount of $22,105 in 2012 and Banff’s councillors currently sit at $17,950.
Canmore’s mayor is eligible for just over $80,000, though Casey voluntarily took a 10 per cent decrease this year. The position cannot claim per diems, as the salary encompasses meetings and community events.
Banff’s mayor has an annual salary of $35,900, however, the mayor can claim per diems for meetings outside the Bow Valley corridor.
