City Hall salaries are out to lunch

General Forums Prince Rupert Forum
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thanks to the North Coast Review

how does our city manager deserve a 34% salary increase? how does he deserve $254000 salary? our Financial Officer got a 29% increase in salary, and so forth. what was the budget deficit for this year before they increased taxes? was it because of these City Hall salary increases? and how does their salaries compare to Terraces?

I think council and mayor have a few things to answer for these increases

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Hey don’t worry , it’s a lot of hard work managing this boom town , and it’s all apart of putting the plan to put this city deep in the deficit hole .We already pay some of the highest taxes in bc for property , whats a little more

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our council sure has some explaining to do , check out other cities salaries

thanks to North Coast Review, hopefully the Northern View can do a story on this

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Well I guess for some reason they feel justified at giving themselves the same wages as those cities with 5 times the population.What a joke.

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and the funny part is we know the Mayor and some councilors visit this site but yet none have commented to justify it, we had a deficit budget this year and at least $100,000 was for 2 wage increases, go figure

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I sent him an e-mail, let’s see if he replies.

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At least Mr Brain is truthful unlike our close nepotistic neighbors stating they only made $35,000 while vacationing at one of the most expensive Hawaiian resorts for weeks and owning one of the most expensive houses of town. Your doing a great job Lee.

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I’m guessing it’s less about the size of our town and more about retaining good employees in a competitive market.
You want good employees whether you have 10,000 people or 100,000 people.

Would a small business be justified paying less than a larger one?

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Nanaaaa this city ran fine with the previous mayor …Terrace has half the payroll expense as Prince Rupert , let’s get real here

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I guess so…but…the voters of Prince Rupert don’t agree with your assessment. Jack was clobbered at the polls.

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I’m pretty sure Jack is doubting your sincerity.

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Here’s the Mayor’s response, sent via e-mail.

TAXES

To start, City Council did not raise taxes this year. We voted 6-1 for a 0% increase for the first time in recent memory. Unfortunately, the BC Assessment valuations did go up, and if people’s property values went up over 10% of the average, then they most likely saw an increase in payment.

WAGES

In the spring of 2015, City Council passed a resolution to create a new Planning for Major Projects budget to ensure the City has capacity to address the speculative growth within the City of Prince Rupert and the region, without impacting the taxpayers. The Planning for Major Projects Budget is $1.3 million per year for a four year period (2015-2019), funded from the proceeds of a lease option with WCC LNG for Lot 444 through Prince Rupert Legacy fund. With the potential LNG facilities being proposed for the area comes tremendous constraints being placed on City staff to manage our daily priorities along with the longer term planning required for community success in the face of proposed growth.

As such, Council identified various needs in preparing for unprecedented growth which include a requirement for additional staffing, specifically around planning and engineering. Within this decision was the installation of a four year ‘sunset’ clause which will retire the Planning for Major Projects Budget should there be no confirmed LNG activity, thereby returning staff support to their previous levels. The formal term for this action is called a temporary market adjustment, meant to act as a recruitment and retention tool during a time of significant competition for talented workers. Recognizing the possibility that interest from LNG and other major industries may decline, City Council intentionally set an expiry date on the wage increases that allows us to return to ‘business as usual’, with benefits accrued from the planning and engineering work.

A breakdown and explanation of this budget was published with a press release in the spring of last year, in addition, it was physically mailed out to each homeowner in last year’s Tax Notice sent by the City:

http://princerupert.ca/cityhall/news/may-11-2015-spring-2015-community-update

Here’s a quick breakdown of the budget:

You can now view how we spent the Planning for Major project budget for 2015 here:

http://princerupert.ca/cityhall/prince-rupert-legacy-inc

Here are two key examples of the changes in salary for the City’s top leadership:

MAYOR’S WAGE

Actual wage (Operations Budget): $42,000/year

Temporary wage increase (2015-2019 PMP Budget): $17,000 authorized to be paid out of the budget of the Prince Rupert Legacy fund, funded by the lease option on Lot 444, not taxpayers.

Total city wage: $60,000

The travel component of my expenses, as reported in the SOFI, was additionally broken down here: Mayor Lee Brain - Hi folks, it's that time of year where the City of Prince Rupert produces our SOFI (Statement of Financial Information) report. Usually the report does not mention the details of where the mayor has traveled, just the total cost, so I decided to create a graph to show folks where I went and why during 2015. For 2015, you may notice my travel expenses have increased from previous years. This is a direct result of the many developments being proposed in Prince Rupert. This required an above average amount of travel taken in order to participate in LNG-related negotiations and advocate for investment in infrastructure and social programming for Prince Rupert to other levels of government so that we are adequately prepared for growth. In 2015 I traveled several times to meet with Ministers from both levels of government and proponents related to proposed developments. These additional expenses are taken from the Planning for Major Projects budget, money specifically set aside from the lease option on Lot 444, so that the taxpayers are not adversely impacted. Meanwhile, Operational travel expenses are those that a Mayor in any given municipality generally incurs for attending conferences and events that are in relation to the day-to-day operations of a City. This includes attending local government conferences where municipalities come together to advocate for shared interests like the North Central Local Government Association (NCLGA), the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) conferences. Each travel location includes flight costs (average $700 round-trip from Prince Rupert to Vancouver) or vehicle travel, hotel costs, conference registration fees, daily food per diem and any taxi costs, as per the City's travel policy. I look forward to continuing to serve the best interests of Prince Rupert and to advocate on our behalf to all levels of government in order for us to see the best possible social and economic outcomes for our community. In your service, Mayor Lee Brain | Facebook - that was also broken down between the PMP budget and operations.

In other cities of a similar size, the mayoral position is part-time. The current situation relating to our workload demands is unique and temporary, which is why council voted in favour of making the position full-time for a period of four years.

In addition, I was also remunerated by the SQCRD for $12,918 for regional district duties.

CITY MANAGER

Actual wage (Operations Budget): $180,000

Temporary wage increase (2015-2019 PMP Budget): $45,000

Total wage: $225,000

Although the SOFI says he made $254,797, the remaining amount represents benefits and carry-over of holidays from the previous year (taxable benefits).

We have a new management team, a new group dynamic, and cohesion happening at City Hall like never before. Many of our managers work long hours, are on call, and respond to issues after hours and even on vacation. City council and management have dedicated resources to retaining our top staff to ensure core employees stay with the City and continue to do good work on behalf of the residents.

RESULTS

Since the election in December 2014, Council and administration have brought in nearly $23 million dollars of new funding for infrastructure. We’ve invested in roads, water and are taking an aggressive approach to revitalizing and rebuilding this community. We’ve launched new programs like Re:Design Rupert to get the public engaged, and Re:Build Rupert to fix aging infrastructure. We’ve settled disagreements with the Port over PILT payments, bringing in new money into the community, and engaged in discussions with neighbours about tax sharing arrangements put into place before tax caps were imposed and the mill failed. We’ve put Prince Rupert on the map with other levels of Government, and have built new relationships with local First Nations that are helping the community become more cohesive. Although this is not an easy job, we believe we are on the right track for the community and look forward to continuing to serve the interests of the people of Prince Rupert.

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so he is saying instead of a 33% increase in the City Manager’s salary it was only 25% increase, in his responses he does not state what justifies it

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I also see more homeless saddly drunk street people in down town prince rupert than ever before and a lot of of empty buildings falling apart down town …is this a part of Charles hays part 2 plan ??

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It is a tough job that must deserve a decent pay…
I hope all city workers get an increase in pay…:smiley:
A raise for the bylaw officer should be considered…:smiley:

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I believe the bylaw officer should be given a raise in pay , called danger pay !
It is a tough job…

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