Coun. Bryan Raiser was "in a state of shock" when his hope of seeing councillors' salaries significantly increased was squashed during budget discussions on Tuesday (March 8).
For eight hours, council members hummed and hawed over budget items but none raised a voice until remuneration hit the table.
The issue of pay for the mayor and council members sparked intense debate during the 2010 budget discussion - to the point where council asked staff to research salaries in B.C. municipalities as a means of comparison.
It indicated that local council remuneration is within the range of salaries for similar sized communities across B.C., but that the mayor's salary was near the bottom of the scale, whereas the councillors' percentage was at the higher end.
Coun. Corinne Lonsdale's motion to increase the mayor's salary from $37,000 to $48,000 over two years was carried - but the more contentious issue was the percentage that councillors should receive.
Lonsdale's original motion included adjusting the councillors' salaries in accordance with the current bylaw, but council preferred to deal with it separately.
Mayor Greg Gardner spoke to the importance of a mayor's and councillors' roles.
"Elected officials in this country are making the most important decisions with respect to the people who live here," he said. "We need to be paying them an adequate salary."
However, he added that the danger was getting into a position where local politicians run for money and not for service.
Coun. Paul Lalli, who boasted he had never supported a mayor or council salary increase, voiced his concern.
"It's not just $5,000 or $6,000," he said. "When we're faced with sustainability, $5,000 or $6,000 here and there makes a difference - we are faced with some big decisions whether it's salaries, infrastructure or policing and I feel really challenged to support an increase in salary."
Lalli was the sole councillor to oppose the mayor's increase.
Until Tuesday, district policy stipulated that councillors receive 48 per cent of the mayor's salary. If that had that remained the same, councillors' salaries would have increased from $17,760 to $23,040 in two years.
Raiser made a motion to maintain the current district policy.
"Councillors should get paid more than a babysitter," Raiser said. "And if not, then we're basically excluding a vast amount of people from running for office."
Coun. Patricia Heintzman seconded the motion.
Coun. Doug Race said he didn't believe remuneration was keeping members of the community from running for office and reminded council that during the 2008 election, 18 people ran for council.
"I think the reason people don't run for office is the lack of job security," Race said. "It's not a profession."
Lalli also pointed out that both the mayor and council members do get increases for cost of living on a yearly basis.
Gardner, Race, Lalli and Coun. Rob Kirkham all voiced their opposition to maintaining the current policy, saying the increase was too substantial, and Raiser said it was because they were the affluent councillors in the room.
"This is so telling, seeing who's against the increase," he said. "The writing's on the wall."
The motion to maintain the current policy failed.
Kirkham made a motion to maintain the current salary and delete the percentage system, but that motion also failed.
Raiser's attempt to set the councillor percentage at 46 per cent, which would have increased their salaries to $22,080 in two years, was supported by Heintzman, but also failed.
Lonsdale made a motion to set the percentage at 43 per cent, which would increase councillors' salaries to $20,640 in two years' time, which would give each councillor a $1,440 increase this year.
Raiser was beside himself and said council didn't have the courage to face the issue of making pay a barrier to being in municipal politics.
"I think it is absolutely asinine that we are actually lowering councillors' salaries," Raiser said. "We're setting it up so only candidates of a certain genre can succeed."
The motion was carried with Raiser, Heintzman and Kirkham opposed.
After the decision, Raiser had a few more comments on the matter.
"Current compensation is a barrier to civic-minded people wanting to serve their community," he said, adding that one-third of a councillor's salary is allocated to an expense account.
He was also critical of Gardner's speech about paying elected officials what they're worth and then not supporting the 48 or 46 per cent increase, particularly because Gardner explicitly promotes raises for the mayor and council on his website.
"I intend to place on the agenda a request for significant increases to the compensation for the Mayor and Council for the District of Squamish," Gardner wrote. "I believe it is important for Council to consider the impact of the level of compensation on the range of our residents who are financially able to seek election. In my mind, fair compensation will encourage candidates from a diverse economic background to step forward to accept these leadership roles."
