West Kelowna council gives next city council a raise

City elections are this fall and the pay raise approved for the next West Kelowna council might draw out some new candidates.

At a council meeting, July 28, city council voted to increase the salary for the mayor from $96,000 a year to $110,775, and for councillors the pay is going up from $33,614 to $38,774.

Melissa Grassmick, a consultant on the city’s renumeration task force, said that paying the mayor and council more could pull in better candidates with an election right around the corner.

“Our recommendations aim to ensure that compensation more appropriately reflects the responsibilities of all of your roles, while also supporting the attraction and retention of qualified and diverse candidates,” Grassmick said at the meeting.

Mayor Gord Milsom isn’t planning to run again, so this raise is definitely not for him. Councillors Rick De Jong and Garrett Millsap are planning to run to keep their seats, so they might see this raise on their paycheques next year if re-elected.

Councillor De Jong was opposed to the raise on the basis that he wasn’t confident in the fairness of how the task force came up with the numbers.

Councillor Stephen Johnston is running to replace the mayor in the fall.

The rest of council hasn’t announced whether or not they intend to run again.

The median salary for a mayor in B.C. is $100,653 and for city councillors it’s $44,862.

Milsom said paying the next mayor and council close to the median salary for local elected officials makes sense.

“I feel they’re reasonable based on the workload, certainly that I’ve experienced as mayor and the responsibilities associated with that,” he said.

Kelowna city council gave itself a significant raise last year.

West Kelowna’s mayor and council is still going to be making less than their peers across the lake.

Kelowna’s mayor now gets paid $145,200 per year, which is up from $126,497. Councillors now receive $58,080, an increase from $42,991.

B.C. municipal election day is Saturday, Oct. 17.