Calgary

Calgary city managers get 3.2 per cent raise for 2015

City council approved the raises during its meeting on Monday. The salary bump, retroactive to January 1, will cost the city about $225,000 a year.

Raise for general managers and directors will cost an additional $225,000

Council chambers are pictured from above. There are rows of desks with people sitting at them.
Calgary city council approved the raises during its meeting on Monday. (Scott Dippel/CBC)

Top managers at the City of Calgary are getting a 3.2 per cent raise for 2015.

City council approved the raises during its meeting on Monday. The salary bump, retroactive to Jan. 1, will cost the city about $225,000 a year.

Mayor Naheed Nenshi said unlike the provincial government — which is talking about the need for salary restraint as its oil revenues drop — the city isn't running an operating deficit. He said the city can manage the expense as it was built into this year's budget. 

"This does not mean that the question of public sector salaries will not be looked at again in the future should we run into more financial troubles but it is important for us to separate the city's finances from the province's," said the mayor.

There are 36 general managers and department directors who qualify for the raise.

The pay hike is slightly smaller than the 3.8 per cent raise city council members are getting this year.

That rate is based on a formula that pegs council pay to salary increases recorded in Alberta the previous year.