A report about Victoria council remuneration will have no bearing on the salaries of currently sitting councillors if the mayor has anything to say about it.
Mayor Marianne Alto made it clear that when a review of council salaries comes back to the council table this fall, she will lead the charge not to have any increases become effective until after the next election.
“I have consistently objected to any such recommendations taking effect in a way that would be able to have any change made to a currently sitting council,” Alto told her colleagues Thursday. “Such recommendations should of course only apply after the next election. My opinion, and it has been forever, is that you should not be in a position to affect your own salary.
“And I will need to have very significant persuasion to move me from that position when this report returns.”
The report, to be undertaken by city manager Jocelyn Jenkins, is expected to go to council before the end of this year.
Council pay is determined by bylaw, and the most recent figures available (2022) show the mayor earned an annual salary of $118,739 and councillors earned $47,495. The salaries are adjusted annually by the Consumer Price Index for Victoria.
The remuneration review was one of the 30 recommendations in the 78-page governance review released last year by business consultancy firm MNP.
The report touched on everything from the role of the mayor and council to a code of conduct and how committees function.
Among other things, the report recommended consolidating administrative authority in the city manager, saying a lack of clarity in delegated authority has created problems for city staff when receiving direction from the mayor or other members of council.
It also suggested using committee of the whole for informal discussion on issues requiring consensus, and to receive public delegations on matters being considered by council. It also recommended immediate ratification at council for all matters concluded at committee of the whole unless council has clear reason not to.
The report’s recommendations included establishing a new policy for remuneration — reviewing salaries once per term to take effect for the next elected council, to avoid the awkward optics of having a council vote for its own salary increase.
Council got a status report this past week on the progress being made by staff to implement the 30 recommendations in the MNP report.
Six of the recommendations, including changes to the process for proclamations to be handled by the mayor’s office and allowing pre-recorded video submissions for public hearings have already been completed, 18 remain in progress and six others have not yet been started.
Council voted Thursday to have staff continue to work on implementation of remaining recommendations, but opted not to advance work on requiring community association land use committees to post meetings online, and rejected the idea of developing a policy to ensure council only wades into areas of core responsibility.
Coun Matt Dell said he wanted to see the entire slate of recommendations implemented or at least addressed by council, but didn’t think it was worth pursuing a policy to keep council in its own lane. “I know that we often need to focus on local government matters, but these days so many of the things that we’re being tasked with are more complicated,” he said, noting the big issues of homelessness, climate change, housing and transportation tend to fall at a municipal council’s feet.
Alto agreed, noting the community is evolving dramatically and quickly.
“And not entirely as we expect, or even as we hope,” she said. “So we need to be flexible and very nimble at being able to address issues.”
City staff intend to have a report on the implementation off all recommendations in the report by the end of the year, along with a separate report on remuneration.
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