By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

"justifiable," says mayor

Lacombe city council approved substantial pay raise in September

Dec 22, 2021 | 4:10 PM

Lacombe city council members gave themselves a hefty raise this past summer, and the mayor is defending it.

The increases to council remuneration – outlined in the Council Remuneration and Expenses Policy — were approved in a 5-1 (one member absent) vote in September.

A council remuneration review committee consisting of Mayor Grant Creasey, and councillors Thalia Hibbs and Reuben Konnik, ultimately made the recommendation to council, with Councillor Don Gullekson being the lone opposing vote.

Factors weighed included little to no increase in recent years, and catching Lacombe up to other similar-sized communities.

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The mayor’s salary is now approximately $83,000, up about 22 per cent from roughly $68,000 in 2020. That’s not including about $3,500 in benefits, honorariums and allowances.

A councillor salary is now approximately $35,000, up about 17 per cent from the roughly $30,000 councillors made last year. That’s not including about $1,200 in benefits, honorariums and allowances.

“Once per term, councillors have an obligation to determine the compensation for the next mayor and council. While compensation for elected officials is never an easy topic, we wanted to make sure we’re staying in the ‘Goldilocks’ region – neither the top nor the bottom,” Mayor Creasey tells rdnewsNOW.

“I think these numbers are fully justifiable, and for anyone who chose to take the time and was interested in this entire process, the information is and was readily available.”

A note about the increase, without numbers, went out in a council highlights media release, some information was available to citizens in the council agenda, and the vote was done in a public portion of the meeting, says Creasey, who owns Central Storage.

Discussion was done in-camera, however, as is usual process with financial matters, he adds.

rdnewsNOW called several local business owners, with only one wishing to go on the record — Darrell Christensen of Cybertech 360, who was flabbergasted upon hearing of the increase.

“As a small business owner in Lacombe, I see no justified reason for city councillors or the mayor to qualify for an increase of these amounts,” he says. “If the increase was on par with inflation as the citizens hoped to receive, but didn’t, then maybe a matched four per cent increase. The unemployment is higher here than just two years ago, plus general city management has not improved. In my opinion, the council member-approved wage increases were unjustified and frankly despicable.”

Mayor Creasey reiterates that the City’s budget process is completely open, with new figures explicitly disclosed multiple times both verbally and in writing in public documents.

“The new cost equates to approximately $45,000 of the City’s $45,000,000 budget, or 0.1 per cent of the budget,” Creasey explains. “This information is also included in the ‘salary disclosures’ portion of the annual Audited Financial Statements, which are also posted publicly, and available online.”

Gullekson, the opposing vote, said he was actually in favour of the mayor’s increase, but not such a jump for councillors.

“The mayor I supported as his workload has certainly increased as we’ve become a larger city,” says Gullekson. “His remuneration was low with comparables we use for different things. On transparency, as far as increases go, yes it needs to be out there. People need to know what’s happening with council, and being transparent was one of the previous council’s goals.”

Creasey admits it’s difficult to quantify any increase in his responsibilities, but adds that the time commitment is substantial, as is that of councillors.

While the new policy doesn’t directly rely on other communities for council wages, there are a number which are used to set staff wages, such as Wetaskiwin, Beaumont, Camrose, Fort Saskatchewan, Blackfalds, Cochrane, High River, Olds, Stony Plain, Strathmore, and Sylvan Lake.

Mayors in other communities made the following in 2020 (Lacombe’s population was 14,109 in 2020, according to Gov’t of Alberta data)

– Lacombe County Reeve: $93,952 (pop. 10,190)

– City of Wetaskiwin Mayor: $87,764 (12,996)

– City of Beaumont Mayor: $118,310 (21,385)

– Town of High River Mayor: $74,328 (14,434)

– City of Fort Saskatchewan Mayor: $105,467 (27,772)

– Town of Okotoks Mayor: $99,000 (31,569)

– Town of Stony Plain Mayor: $84,209 (18,762)

– City of St. Albert Mayor: $145,734 (69,335)

Because council salaries are tied to the CAO’s, and the CAO’s is reviewed every two years, it’s possible that should the CAO’s salary increase, so too would council’s.

Mayor Creasey says there would still be a vote if that situation arose.

Council members serving on the council remuneration review committee for the current term are Mayor Creasey, Councillor Konnik, and new councillor Scott Dallas.