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Alto Takes Stand on Tax Fairness:
City of Victoria’s Mayor Alto opposed Council’s unilateral 25% salary raise for themselves.

Arthur Mcinnes
March 21, 2024

In a move that is bound to delight Grumpy Taxpayer$ of Greater Victoria the Mayor voted against what could be a 0.06% tax increase (Times Colonist) and thus got it right at least once as Mayor. 

Alto told Thursday’s council meeting she believes it is “never appropriate for any agency” to vote itself a raise “under any circumstance.” (Times Colonist). I could not agree more.  Alas it did not have to be this way anymore than it had to with Bayview. You see there was a clear alternative already flagged for the Council in MNPs Governance Review prepared for the last Council. 

Put simply that recommendation was that Councils do not vote themselves salary increases.  Councils should rather vote pay for future Councils not themselves as there is a clear and apparent conflict of interest.

Using a second consultant’s report into pay scales by Drive Organizational Development Ltd as an excuse Jeremy Caradonna moved a motion to increase Councillor’s annual salary by some 25%, or about $13,000 to take it up from the current $52,420 to $65,525 annually.  Of course this is unjustified. 

Loughton, Thompson, Kim and Dell voted in favour of the motion.  Surprise, the Coalition of Five strikes once again.  Unsurprisingly the two most principled Councillors in my opinion Hammond and Gardiner voted against it while Coleman smartly ducked it by being absent.

Here is the thing though.  Drive found the median pay for councillors in 18 Canadian cities was $55,700, while the median pay in B.C. was $55,500.  Thus, the Councillors have essentially decided “we’re no median Council, we’re an extraordinary Council and should be compensated accordingly.”  Ten thousand dollars above the median in fact, is what they have now given themselves. Disgraceful in today’s times. 

Thompson said twice it was a “huge sacrifice” to work at the current pay levels. Perhaps he could share his tax records so we can better appreciate his selflessness.

“Caradonna said the “part-time” Victoria council job is actually a full-time gig and should be compensated as such, noting the city faces big-city problems like homelessness, street disorder, and mental-health and addictions challenges.” (Times Colonist) I can only read this as Caradonna worried that if he is not given an increase he may have to move onto the street.  He should have a word with Councillor Kim again who likes to proclaim in her emails her role is “part-time”. More stories for these characters to get straight. 

What is missing about Caradonna voting for this is how much extra he, Thompson, Coleman and the Mayor also make as Directors of the Capital Regional District.  That membership adds about $30,000 each to their totals. That’s not all though. Most of the Councillors sit on other Boards, Committees, the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority etc.  Kim, for example, pockets an extra $4000 for her GVHA membership plus meeting fees of between $200 and $400.  All well-deserved of course if her sterling representation at City Council is anything to go by. 

The point is behind their base salaries there is an industrial scale boondoggle going on when one adds all their other sources of income, not to mention what they may be pulling down in their full-time jobs. Pray-tell Councillors just how you really make and how do you honestly divide your time? 

Let me return to this job being “actually a full-time gig” as Caradonna has said.  Hardly. There is a careful dissection of the work that Council does in the MNP report concluding for a one-year period that it amounts to about 400 hours of meetings and another 400 hours of preparation. Marg Gardiner puts her standard Council workload at about 25-30 hours per week over 45 weeks for the year, and she is hard-working so likely at the top end of the scale. So much for full-time. 

I would like to take comfort in Council “feathering its own nest now” assuming the Councillors can see the “writing is on the wall” about them not returning. However, this is small satisfaction given just how badly they are getting things wrong.  There is one thing that can be said about it though and that is at least they’re consistent.