Calgary City Council Compensation: “How Could They?”
The following appeared as an editorial column in the Calgary Sun on February 1, 2009.
A headline on the front page of the Sun this week asked the question, “How Could They?” It was directed to me, wanting to know why I did not change the way my salary was determined. The question deserves an answer.
Last Monday City Council was asked to reconsider the current way Council’s pay is established. I voted against the reconsideration. Council has not set our salaries for a number of years. We should not start now.
I believe very strongly that Aldermen should not be voting on their own pay. They are always in a conflict of interest when they do. It is a situation that I very much wish to completely avoid – now, and into the future.
After the 2001 election, City Council established an independent task force to review Council compensation. In March of 2003 the Task Force recommended a new process to establish compensation so that Council members would not find themselves in a conflict of interest in voting on their own salaries. They recommended that Council pay be automatically adjusted on January 1st of each year based on the same percentage increase or decrease in the “Average Weekly Earnings of Albertans as reported by the Statistics Canada Survey of Employment Payroll and Hours” for the immediate preceding year, based on that year’s September to September report information.
A second independent task force on Council compensation in 2006 confirmed that Council should keep with this practice. They also recommended that the tax free allowance City Council members received be eliminated.
The Calgary Sun applauded when Council accepted these recommendations, saying in an editorial (July 19, 2006) that in so doing, “…council made the process even more transparent”.
Following this process, the Council pay increase of January 1, 2009 was set at 5.5% because that was the average pay increase for Albertans from September 2007 to September 2008.
It is very important to note that Council can have their pay reduced under this method. In the event of wage deflation for Albertans, City Council will get a pay cut. The lag would be a year, but it could happen. That is the risk City Council members have to live with by having their pay set by an independent measure such as this one. The change in wage levels of Albertans – either up or down – is always eventually reflected in the income provided to Members of City Council.
I voted to keep the current method of determining Council pay. It is the right one. It tracks an independent measurement in the Alberta marketplace to set the wage automatically – up or down. Council members are removed from voting directly to set their own pay levels.
The system of determining Council pay was widely praised for its transparency and impartiality when it was brought in. It is a system that I believe most citizens want and continue to support. It is a system I voted to retain.
Ald. Bob Hawkesworth
January 28, 2009
