BATTLEFORD — The Town of Battleford council approved an increase to its managers’ salaries at its meeting on Aug. 18.
Three managers’ positions will be affected — the manager of public works, the manager of parks and recreation, and the manager of water and sewer — so that the roles are placed on the same salary grid.
In a 4–2 vote, council approved an adjustment to increase the grid to a range of $85,000 to $105,000, above the current $60,000 to $85,000.
This was needed to stay competitive with similarly sized municipalities of 5,000 to 10,000 people, and to attract new managers, the council noted.
"Right now, we're looking for a public works manager," said deputy Mayor Clayton Lazar. "We just had one that recently retired and we're having some issues recruiting. According to our CAO, that might be monetary. So, that's what we're exploring. It just might be that aspect. We're trying to increase the pay to attract more people interested in that position."
Coun. Doug Laing asked if there is room in the budget for the increase without sacrificing projects.
CAO Todd Francis said most of the cost could be absorbed through other savings within the budget, so it would not impact the 2025 budget negatively.
It can be looked at further in the 2026 budget presentation.
Coun. Kevin Russell supported the proposal.
"If our current salary grid isn't attracting a person to hire, we obviously have to go to plan B, which would reflect our other two managers as well... If there is room for it, it's something we need to move forward on," he said. "It's the way of life."
Coun. Shelley Boutin-Gervais had concerns with the increase.
She noted the new base of $85,000 wasn’t approved during 2025 budget deliberations.
"I'm really not in favour of doing it now when we are going to be starting budget deliberations [for 2026] in another two months or so," Boutin-Gervais said. "Also, I'm not sure if it's a good time to be doing this when we're in among negotiations with the union on the new collective agreement that is way past due. I just think the salary grid is what it is for now, until we go through budget deliberations again, unless we want to lower the threshold of the new salary grid to maybe 75 [k] to 95 [k]."
She said council had already discussed a proposed increase and didn’t approve it, so she questioned why it returned during the same budget year.
Coun. Mark Coleman said he liked the $75,000 to $95,000 idea better than the $85,000 to $105,000 recommendation.
"I know it's hard to attract new people, but that is quite a jump," he said.
Lazar said he was concerned the town couldn’t get by without the vacant position being filled before budget time, so he supported the increase.
"I'm willing to try anything that would attract more people to this community," he said. "So I think it's a good thing."
