Pay will get larger after a new Nelson city council is elected in October.
City staff compared the wages of Nelson council to several municipalities across the province and suggested an increase of 13 per cent, to $70,170 per year for the mayor, and a five per cent increase for councilors, to $27,560, would bring them in line with the others.
“I think that this is more than fair for the next council,” says councilor Rik Logtenberg. “Considering the amount of work that is done for meetings, including prep and off hours I want to make sure the next council is getting what they deserve.”
But some councilors weren’t completely convinced.
“I am worried about public perception about these numbers, especially after the impacts of the past two years,” says councilor Jesse Woodward.
“People are going to look at the number of the increase and realize in year two we took no raise based off CPI,” says councilor Janice Morrison.
The primary research done by city staff looked at the median wages, rather than mean, in municipalities that were very similar to Nelson because of the possible impact of high wages in those places.
Some of those areas are Dawson Creek, Salmon Arm, Squamish, Kitimat, Port Alberni and Courtenay.
All members of council voted in favor of the raise for the next council starting after the election in October.