HOW much are your political representatives on the District of West Vancouver council worth?
That's the question council is putting to the public before making any decisions on whether to increase their annual remuneration.
Coun. Bill Soprovich moved a motion at a March 6 council meeting to begin collecting public feedback before council re-evaluates its own remuneration for the first time since 2008 at the end of the month.
"Prior to the last election, the council established that we would have the next elected council look at the policy on remuneration," Soprovich said in a later interview.
In 2011, the mayor was paid $65,915 plus benefits, while council members earned $21,972 in that same period, making West Vancouver the lowest-paid council of 10 similar-sized local governments in the Lower Mainland.
"It's just what is fair - that we are in line with other municipalities, who aren't in fact keeping their taxes low and doing due diligence for their own community," said Soprovich.
Following the advice of an independent task force, council voted in 2002 to increase the annual pay to better match council pay in other similar municipalities, and include adjustments matching the change in consumer price index for Vancouver.
At the time, the mayor earned $51,000 and councilors $17,000, amounts that were set in 1994.
Council rejected a similar top-up in 2008.
If West Van's mayor and council pay were brought in line with the average of six other Lower Mainland governments of similar sizes, budgets, responsibilities and council workloads today, Mayor Michael Smith would earn $100,915 per year and councillors would earn $40,517, plus benefits and expenses.
"We're not asking for the high percentile. I figure it will come out around $34,000 or $35,000," Soprovich said, referring to council pay.
Previous task force reports from 2002 and 2008 found council members put in 20-25 hours per week, but that has gone up by Soprovich's assessment.
Preparing for and sitting in on council and committee meetings, the responsibility of looking after millions of taxpayer dollars, council duties in the community and taking phone calls and meetings with the public all pretty much add up to a full-time gig.
"It's a little bit different than yesteryear," he said. "You're on duty all the time. You can't turn it off."
Soprovich said there have only been a few comments submitted so far, which range from "How dare you raise your income?" to "You should do it for nothing."
Soprovich admitted the optics of raising one's own pay at the expense of taxpayers are never good, but he values what the public has to say.
"I'll keep an open mind. I want to hear what the public has to say. It's very unique. It's not a nice thing to raise your own stipend or salary," he said.
Soprovich added that West Van taxpayers are also getting value for their dollar on council as evidenced by the minimal or zero per cent tax increases in recent years.
"We made extra effort over the last three years on the chosen path to not have these major tax increases, to look at the size of government, and we did it with a lot of hard work," he said, contrasting West Vancouver to other local governments around the Lower Mainland which have seen taxes go up and up in recent years.
David Marley, co-founder of the Interested Taxpayer's Action Committee, said mayor and council deserve a raise but not one so large.
"If they increased the council pay to $30,000 and the mayor's to $75,000 . . . that would be appropriate," he said.
But, Marley added, there is one major caveat.
"I don't believe that it's ethically appropriate for any elected official, whether they're a local councillor, an MLA or an MP, to vote for an increase in their own remuneration in the absence of an intervening election," he said
"It shouldn't take effect until the Jan. 1, 2015, which is following the next civic election."
Marley noted that, even while the 2002 pay was "way too low," council has been getting steady raises with the CPI ever since.
Marley said, on a philosophical level, no one should rely on being elected to council as their primary way to earn a living.
"It's an honorarium - a way to say thanks for doing public work. It's not an income. It's not a career," he said.
Marley said the district has been "way out of line" in allowing pay increases for staff, both union and non-union, and council needs to lead by example.
"I think they lose the moral authority they need in order to say to the employees of the district that 'you must show restraint in your income demands,'" he said.
Council is expected to address the issue at its March 26 meeting.
In the meantime, council is taking feedback from the public on the matter until March 20. Comments can be emailed to [email protected].
