City of North Van council votes themselves a retroactive pay raise

City of North Vancouver council members are getting a raise, courtesy of City of North Vancouver council members.

Typically, councils review their remuneration packages in the beginning of the year; however, the city skipped the top-up last year, in part, due to the pandemic and council is now playing catch-up.

For years, city council has used a formula that pegs council’s pay increases at one-third of the negotiated increase with its unionized staff in CUPE Local 389, one-third of the increase bargained with International Association of Fire Fighters Local 296, and one-third of the consumer price index.

To reflect changes in the CPI over the last two years, council will receive a .733 per cent bump, retroactive to Jan. 1 and another .667 per cent to be applied retroactively to 2020.

For both years, council will also receive an additional 0.667 per cent, reflecting the two per cent increases the city’s CUPE members got in that time.

This year, however, the city is still in bargaining with the firefighters, so another remuneration increase will be factored into council’s pay after a deal is ratified.

With the latest top-up, the city’s mayor will earn $130,179 per year and councillors will be paid $43,479.

Council passed the pay raise without debate, as is tradition.