Banff’s politicians are now eligible for a $500 annual allowance if they use their own personal computer devices instead of one supplied by the Town.
At a meeting Monday (Oct. 24), council amended the Council Compensation Policy to provide an allowance, although councillors still have the option of using a Town-owned laptop if they want.
“The municipality will realize some savings and council members will have flexibility to use devices of their choice,” said Kelly Gibson, the Town of Banff’s corporate services manager.
Councillors are required to use computer devices for municipal business and $1,500 per computer per councillor has been budgeted for laptop replacement by the end of this year.
However, the savings this year will be $1,000 for every councillor who decides to use the allowance for their own personal computer device.
Currently, council pays $1,200 per laptop annually to the computer reserve for replacement, software, servers, printers and other related costs.
Councillors using their own device would only pay $500-$600 a year to the computer reserve, resulting in savings of $600-$700 per year from 2012 onwards.
Councillor Chip Olver did express some reservations because she had heard of politicians in other municipalities raising issues over Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy (FOIP).
“What’s the risk of mixing personal and work on the same machine?” she said.
But administration indicated they had asked Alberta Municipal Affairs for advice on the issue, and while they had not yet heard back, they said they did not believe it would be a problem.
“We’ve never taken a Town of Banff machine to do a FOIP request, but the potential is there,” said Gibson. “But for it to be held for any length of time, I can’t see it. If a file was on your device or phone, it would be matter of taking that file and sharing it.”
The computer allowance is for the period of Nov. 1 to Oct. 31.
If a councillor leaves office before then, they have to repay a pro-rated amount for every full month they are not eligible for the allowance.
Should they choose not to use a personal computer for council work anymore, the Town will then supply a computer and the councillor shall repay any unused portion of the allowance.
