Paying politicians: What is a living wage for Vancouver's mayor, council?
Jason Proctor | CBC News | Posted: February 3, 2015 2:39 AM | Last Updated: February 3, 2015
Council salaries are tied to the average wage of the city's residents - but is that a raw deal?
"Be it resolved that I don't make enough money."
No municipal politician is ever going to phrase a call for reconsideration of their pay structure in exactly those terms — but that's what voters hear in motions like the one Vancouver Coun. Geoff Meggs is set to put before city council Tuesday.
"The workload for Councillors and Park Board Commissioners has been significantly increased by the rising volume of citizens' emails and phone calls, each meriting full and prompt reply," the motion reads in part.
"Therefore be it resolved that council direct staff to recommend an independent, qualified individual ... to conduct a review of Council compensation and resources."
What is a middle-class wage?
Meggs's motion follows Mayor Gregor Robertson's call in December, shortly after his re-election, for an independent review of compensation for the city's elected officials; the issue wasn't a big part of his campaign.
At present, mayor and council are paid according to a formula developed in 1995 which ties their salaries to the average wage of Vancouverites. Robertson currently earns $154,436 annually and councillors earn about $68,000.
"I think that there's a lot of support for that formula," Meggs said. "But the pay for Vancouver councillors who are full time is significantly lower than for councillors elsewhere in Canada."
But is it fair?
University of B.C. political science Prof. Max Cameron says the salary formula may unwittingly make Vancouver's council a living example of the growing wage inequality between Vancouver's top earners and the bulk of the population.
He says the median wage has remained relatively flat for the past two decades. Meanwhile, Vancouver has become one of the world's most expensive cities.
"As income gaps widen, what counts as a middle-class income becomes highly controversial," Cameron said.
"Is that enough to recruit people who don't have other means of support? Is it enough to recruit people who could actually make a whole lot more doing other things?"
The Ferrari index
Imagine, for a moment, if the salaries of Vancouver's elected leaders were tied instead to the price of real estate or the ever-growing number of Ferraris prowling city streets. Or then again, to tax increases proposed to pay for infrastructure.
"The spectacle of politicians voting themselves pay increases is always going to generate a certain amount of ire in the public," Cameron said. "There's going to be inevitably some kind of populist backlash against this."
Cue Jordan Bateman, B.C. director of the Canadian Taxpayers' Federation.
He says municipal politicians need to be paid enough to ward off corruption, but rejects the idea that flat wages will deter good people from going into politics. After all, he says, dozens of people line up for the job every few years.
"It's a bit of a fake market that way," he told CBC News. "There's no competition for municipal politicians. It's not like a Vancouver city councillor is going to cross the street and run in Burnaby if they pay their councillors more."
'It is what it is'
At the other end of the spectrum, Rossland Mayor Kathy Moore draws a princely $12,000 a year to head the community of 3,500. That's nearly twice what she earned as a councillor.
"It is what it is," she says. "It's not a livable wage. Basically, anyone who runs for office in this area is doing it as community service."
Still, the retiree says she does work 40 hours a week. And councillors work two or three jobs. Moore agrees with Meggs that the demands of transparent politics in the digital age have risen drastically, even in a small community.
Bateman says B.C.'s new auditor general for local government should tackle the question of salaries. And if politicians want to vote for increases, he adds, they should do it ahead of an election, so the new council can benefit from their largesse.
If the motion for an independent review goes ahead, Bateman says he would like to see ordinary Vancouverites considered for the job.
"Put a couple of single mums who are working two jobs and struggling to get by and ask them what they think a politician should be paid," he said.
"You might get a different answer than a retired supreme court justice."