Update on Jim Nielsen

[Jack Bennest]

Peachland council members sworn in after November's municipal election will get a raise, district council decided Tuesday.

By a vote of five to one, council approved a recommendation to increase the mayor's annual stipend by $5,866 or 38.7 per cent, from $15,151 to $21,017. Councillors will receive a pay hike of $2,988 or 35.2 per cent, from $8,481 per year to $11,469.

"In my mind it's reasonable, responsible and fair," said Coun. Jim Nielsen, who brought forward the recommendation after council turned down a staff request to hire a consultant to look into the pay issue.

Some council members balked at an earlier meeting at the estimated $4,000 cost for a consultant to review council remuneration but that's exactly what Mayor Graham Reid tried to convince his peers to do Tuesday.

An independent, third party should be hired to look at council pay, said Reid. The consultant would look at work loads as well as expectations and what other communities pay their council members.

Nielsen, who has moved to the Lower Mainland but remains on council until November, did his own research of a number of communities similar in size to Peachland. On average, mayors are paid $20,577 and councillors are paid $11,605, according to the research.

Reid cautioned that the proposed increases, which would be in place for the next council over three years, could result in a two thirds of one per cent increase in taxes.

The mayor also took exception to Nielsen's recommended pay numbers, noting that workloads between the mayor and councillors are vastly different and the end result would be the mayor making considerably less than fellow council members.

According to Reid, on average a councillor works about 10 hours per week. In a 50-week work year, a councillor being paid Nielsen's suggested $11,469 would make $22.94 per hour.

Reid said his work load, excluding regional district duties, takes up about 30 hours per week on average or 1,500 in a year. Paying the mayor the suggested $21,017 would result in an hourly wage of $14.01 per hour.

"We would be paying the mayor significantly less than the councillors," said Reid.

Other council members did not seem concerned with the disparity raised by Reid and voted in favour of Nielsen's recommendation.

The new wages for council members will go into effect once the newly elected council is sworn in later this year.