A new salary formula that will see Yorkton's city councillor and mayor salaries tied to that of a provincial cabinet minister will mean a raise for local council members.
In September of 2012 city administration brought forward a report to council in order to review the remuneration policy and amounts paid to members of council. The report showed that after conducting a survey of five other Saskatchewan cities of similar size or slightly larger, it was determined the salaries of the mayor and council of the City of Yorkton were the lowest of the communities surveyed.
A independent remuneration review committee was established, consisting of five members of the local business community and at a recent city council meeting their findings were announced.
"The City of Yorkton is a public corporation with an annual budget of more than $18 million providing services to a population approaching 20,000 people," detailed committee member Kevin Lukey to council. "If the city were a private corporation mayor and council as the equivalent of the chairman and board of directors... could receive significantly higher compensation that has been the case or is being proposed now. We recognize that historically, compensation rates for the mayor and council have been lower than the private sector because they have included a component of civic contribution and we are not proposing to change that."
What the committee did propose was setting the mayor's remuneration at 75 per cent of the annual salary for a Saskatchewan MLA which equates to about $68,850 per year.
"Using the MLA salary allows council to adopt a method of determining remuneration that is at arm's length. A MLA salary is adjusted on April 1 of each year by the change in the Consumer Price Index..."
As such says Lukey, this ensures salaries are kept in line with changes to the costs of goods and services. It does not contribute to an artificial escalation of salaries and it means salaries are beyond the ability of the City of Yorkton to influence or control.
Councillors will be remunerated at 30 per cent of the mayors salary and increases will be phased in over a two year period.
