North Battleford City Hall continues to work towards putting together a new remuneration policy for council.
A draft remuneration policy was before council Monday after being discussed at planning committee a week earlier.
But it has been tabled to the next council meeting, mainly to allow time for administration to come back with some further numbers impacting one aspect of the policy: setting the compensation levels.
An independent five-person committee had come up with the proposed new policy, which would tie the compensation of the mayor and council to that of provincial members of the legislative assembly. That is a change from the previous policy tying compensation to that of the city manager.
The stumbling block is coming up with a percentage. The original wording had called for the mayor’s compensation to be set at 70 per cent of that of provincial MLAs, and for council compensation to be set at 35 per cent of the mayor’s compensation.
But a wrench has been thrown in with a recent move by the federal government to eliminate a tax exemption previously available to municipal councillors and other elected officials.
“One-third of a councillor’s salary was tax-free,” noted City Manager Randy Patrick in speaking to reporters. “That’s been eliminated.”
That means councillors’ compensation will be subject to the same tax as everyone else, cutting into council’s take home pay by a few thousand dollars.
There had been talk of tying the mayor’s compensation to MLAs at a higher rate, upwards of 80 per cent, to make up for that shortfall. In the end, however, it was decided more precise information was needed before council could make a decision.
Patrick said administration has been asked by council to come back with further numbers to show what rate would keep their take home pay whole at 100 per cent, and what the budget implications would be for such a move.
Patrick noted at the meeting most communities in the province have taken into account the tax changes in setting their compensation levels, including the Town of Battleford.
“A large number of councils have decided to increase their council rates,” said Patrick.
There are tax bracket considerations as well in calculating the final numbers.
There was considerable discussion about the other provisions of the draft policy, and some of those changes have been agreed to by council.
One draft provision would have tied increases in compensation to the consumer price index. Council voted to take that provision out, which means the policy will directly tie council’s salaries to those of MLAs.
There was a lengthy discussion on provisions imposing penalties to councillors who miss meetings. Staying in place are provisions for a fine of $1,000 for missing three consecutive meetings, with second offences resulting in a penalty of $2,000. Council was also content with the provisions setting penalties for those who miss six or more meetings a year at $500 per meeting.
There was one important amendment to the definition of meetings. Previously, the wording included all “council, special council, council committee, budget, long range and strategic planning” meetings.
It has been amended to include attendance at meetings scheduled and known by council in advance, and meetings that regularly occur within a certain time frame of the year, which shall include council, council committee and budget meetings.
The entire draft policy will come back to council at their next meeting. It is expected final approval will happen at that time.
