Total payments to all board members of the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District amount to about as much as a slightly underpaid doctor, according to recently-released 2017 financial statements.
A total of $225,469.30 was paid out to all of the board members, including alternate directors, who make less because they only serve when a director is unavailable.
This number — as well as the ones shown in Figures 1 to 4 — include expenses, which can run in the thousands of dollars.
Expenses include food, travel, electronic devices, phones and home office costs, among other things.
For compensation in 2017, electoral area directors — representatives of Areas A through D — were given an annual stipend of $25,000.
Municipal directors were given $12,500.
Figure 1 shows the 2017 breakdown of pay for SLRD directors.
The chair, Jack Crompton, receives an additional $10,724 as head of the board.
Also, the vice-chair, Tony Rainbow, is given an extra $1,778 for having that responsibility.
Figure 2 shows the pay of each regional district employee earning more than $75,000 in 2017. Expenses are also included in these numbers.
To provide some context for benchmarking, The Chief also compiled board members’ and staffers’ average earnings and expenses from regional districts with similar population sizes and capital assets.
The regional districts of Kitimat-Stikine, Bulkley-Nechako, Strathcona, as well as the SLRD all have populations ranging in size between 36,000 to 46,000. They also have capital assets that are valued in the lower tens of millions — between $14 million and $47 million.
The most recent figures available were used in all comparisons. In most cases, these were numbers from 2017.
See the comparisons on Figures 3 to 4.
