The table above represents only a portion of the annual remuneration for our Mayor and Councillors. In fact, civic official remuneration can, and often is, much more.
The most frequent query put to VanRamblings occurs in respect of the remuneration received by our City Councillors, in most people’s estimation only a part-time job. In fact, many folks believe that holding the office of City Councillor to be a volunteer position, without any remuneration whatsoever. These folks are stunned to learn that Vancouver’s City Councillors annual remuneration exceeds $100,000, and often much more.
From a January 8, 2019 article by Vancouver Courier civic affairs journalist, Mike Howell, reporting the 2.7% salary increase for Mayor Kennedy Stewart and Vancouver City Councillors will receive in the 2019 calendar year …
“The 2.7% bump shouldn’t be viewed as a surprise. Every Jan. 1 the mayor and council of the day get a pay increase. It fluctuates and has involved formulas that factor in the Consumer Price Index, the average weekly wage for B.C. and data from Statistics Canada.
In 2014 it was a 3.24% increase. In 2015, it was 0.82%.
Back in 1995, an independent panel decided the mayor and councillors needed a raise. Part of the rationale was based on mayors and councillors in other big cities making more cash than the Vancouver crew, which still holds true today. For example, the mayor of Edmonton pulled in $200,586 last year and councillors earned $113,325.
In 2016, Vancouver councillors made a move to get them closer to their counterparts in Edmonton and other cities by approving a series of changes to the payroll …
In addition to the base salary of $86,266 (plus an annual supplement of $3,048), according to the Deputy Mayor roster published by the Mayor’s office on November 1, 2018, Councillor Pete Fry will sit as Deputy Mayor twice in 2019 — in January and December — adding $6,390 to his “base” salary of $89,314; in addition, Councillor Fry will be Duty Councillor in September (another $3,195), and sit as Acting Mayor once during the year ($1,162). Total salary compensation for Councillor Fry in 2019 equals $100,061, and that figure doesn’t include compensation for his work on the Union of B.C. Municipalities, on which he is a Vancouver Council delegate.
Note, and perspective: the most recent census data shows the median income in 2015 for a one-person household in Vancouver was $38,449, and $89,207 for a household of two or more people. The “total household” median income was $65,327. Lone parent families earned $52,242.
In point of fact, 95% of Canadians earn less than $100,000 a year.
Base compensation for City Councillor Adriane Carr will exceed $143,000 in 2019.
In addition to a “base salary” in the range of $100,000, Green Party of Vancouver Councillors Adriane Carr and Michael Wiebe, OneCity Vancouver Councillor Christine Boyle, and Non-Partisan Association Councillors Colleen Hardwick and Lisa Dominato were appointed by the Mayor last autumn to sit on the Metro Vancouver Board, where they will be compensated to the tune of a minimum of $17,000 for the year.
Councillor Carr, in her role as Metro Vancouver Climate Action Committee Chair will receive a further $25,000 in compensation, in 2019.
For Councillors Wiebe, Boyle, Hardwick and Dominato, total salary compensation for 2019 will be in the range of $112,704, with Councillor Carr adding a further $25,000 to that figure.
The transportation allowance afforded each Councillor “for the conduct of city business” is compensated at up to $600 per month, or another up to $7200 annually. Each Councillor is entitled to “payment for local expenses incurred in any calendar year”, at a sum not to exceed 10% of the Councillors’ annual salary. There’s an annual travel and training expense budget afforded Councillors, as well as a “discretionary expenses budget” — when, in 2020, the City publishes figures for these latter “budgets”, voters will know the exact figure claimed by our City Councillors in 2019.
Suffice to say, our Vancouver City Councillors are not going to sleep hungry each night, or living in wont and financial despair, a circumstance afflicting far too many in our city, in every age demographic, across every neighbourhood. Let us hope that our Councillors — currently living high off the hog — remember they were elected as servants of the public interest.
Vancouver City Councillor Jean Swanson speaking with fellow Councillor Michael Wiebe.
Meanwhile, Coalition of Progressive Electors Vancouver City Councillor Jean Swanson, in keeping with an election promise made to voters last autumn, has stated that she aims to reduce her income to the average wage earned by single Vancouverites — about $44,000 — although she’s not there yet.
