By Stu Salkeld, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Rural Alberta Report
The Village of Forestburg council approved boosting councillors’ base pay to the amount paid to the deputy mayor. The decision was made at the Apr. 9 regular meeting of council.
At a previous council meeting, councillors conducted an annual review of their base pay, pay for meetings and expense rates. Most of the pay was left unchanged; however, Coun. Elaine Fossen stated she was in favour of boosting a councillor’s base salary to the level paid to the deputy mayor.
Coun. Fossen explained that since a councillor’s workload was the same as the deputy mayor’s, she felt the salaries should be the same as well. Councillors decided they wanted Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Dwight Dibben to examine how other municipalities handle base councillor pay and report back.
A report filed at a previous meeting noted Forestburg’s mayor’s base annual pay is $7,440, the deputy mayor’s base annual pay is $6,200 and each councillor’s base annual pay is $4,960; hence, boosting three councillors’ base pay up to $6,200 would be roughly $3,200 per year extra.
Dibben reported at the Apr. 9 meeting he had followed council’s direction by looking at Flagstaff County’s council pay levels, along with a few other municipalities roughly the same size as Forestburg.
Dibben observed, as expected, there is a wide range of approaches. One detail the CAO stated he noticed, however, is that a separate base pay for the deputy mayor is uncommon; most deputy mayors are paid the same base pay as their council peers.
The CAO added that boosting councillors’ base pay up to the deputy mayor’s level wouldn’t have a huge effect on the village budget, and Mayor Dwayne Giroux agreed. Dibben observed that pay increases are up to council to decide through a vote.
As councillors discussed Dibben’s report, they noted other municipalities pay similar mileage and hourly meeting rates as Forestburg.
Coun. Fossen stated that she continued to hold the opinion that councillors should be paid the same as the deputy mayor.
Deputy Mayor Devon McNabb noted that he did have a concern about the optics of a council pay increase to the public.
Councillors briefly discussed the length of time that has passed since Forestburg council received a raise. It was generally agreed there has been no pay increase since 2018 and the last raise was likely before Oct. 2017.
Councillors approved, by a 4-1 vote, bumping up councillors’ base pay to $6,200, the same level paid to the deputy mayor. McNabb was opposed.
The CAO noted this would take effect on Apr. 1, the beginning of the second quarter, for simplicity’s sake.
