At Monday's (February 6) City Council meeting, the issue of remuneration for the Council was addressed and the council voted to increase the wage for City Councillors by 15 per cent to 47 per cent of the mayor's salary.

Sharon Pollyck with the city explained that historically in Airdrie, the outgoing City Council sets the wage for the incoming Council. In the past, that process has been highly subjective, and they are trying to move to a more objective system based on math. The Council decided last September to adopt a formula similar to the one used in Red Deer.

"The salary that we presented on Monday night is basically done through regression analysis, taking a look at a number of communities. We recommended looking at our five city comparable that Municipal Affairs uses, and along with another seven who would give it a Southern Alberta flavour."

Pollyck explained the new formula looks at the relationship between the mayoral salary and the population, and determines a best line of fit for Councillor's remuneration. She also pointed out that of those twelve communities looked at, Airdrie has the lowest remuneration for City Council. Pollyck was also quick to point out that City Council has not had a raise since 2010, and has voluntarily foregone those wage increases.

Pollyck was clear that the vote on Monday night was not council padding their own wallets.

"In essence, for them to be voting themselves a raise, you have to be making the assumption that, first of all, they're going to run in the 2017 election and two, they're going to be successful."

The new wages will not come into effect until after the municipal election this fall, when the new City Council is sworn in. At that point, the wages will be reviewed every four years in the mid-term so that Council wages can't be used as an election issue. The first review would take place in 2020.

Pollyck also explained that there is an annual adjustment component, which is tied to City Staff. As long as the City Staff remains mostly non-union, City Council will receive the same annual increase as City Staff.

 

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