2,700 signatures demanding council put 21% pay and perks hike on October ballot

Backgrounder

EDMONTON: The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) today delivered a petition signed by 2,700 Edmontonians calling on city council to put the pay and perk hike they passed last summer on this October's municipal ballot.

"Council can't keep sticking their head in the sand and pretending their outrageous pay and perk hike isn't an election issue," charged CTF-Alberta director Scott Hennig. "The only way to solve this issue is to let Edmontonians decide."

In June 2006, Edmonton City Council rushed through a pay and perk package that increased the base salary of the mayor by 7 per cent and councillors by 13 per cent. The package also included a 30 per cent increase in the so-called "car allowance" and a 109 per cent hike in the so-called "RRSP allowance" (99 per cent for the mayor). Council further created a new $500 health spending account and increased their severance pay from two-weeks a year (maximum of 24 weeks) to three-weeks a year (maximum of 36 weeks).

The total annual cash compensation increase is 21 per cent for city councillors and 14 per cent for the mayor. This is in addition to the automatic annual adjustments to their salary based on the Average Weekly Earnings of Albertans, which resulted in a 5.76 per cent hike in 2006 and a 4.41 per cent hike in 2007.

The CTF has maintained that the car and RRSP "allowances" should be eliminated and rolled into one transparent and fully-taxable salary.

"Both of these allowances are one-third tax-free just like council's salaries, and are simply paid out as cash compensation on their regular paycheques," explained Hennig. "And unlike expense allowances in the real world, council members don't have to turn in any receipts or prove they incurred any out-of-pocket expenses."

"In fact, they don't have to own or even know how to drive a car to get the car allowance, nor do they have to put their RRSP allowance into an RRSP," continued Hennig.

"Once again it seems there's one set of rules for politicians and another set for taxpayers," concluded Hennig

Prior to the pay and perk hike, city councillors earned the equivalent of $85,014 and the mayor earned $167,774. Unless council moves to put this issue on the ballot city councillors will be earning the equivalent of $102,804 and the mayor will be earning $191,729 after the election.