By Lara Fominoff @LaraFominoff on Twitter

Housing, airport improvements, governance reviews – and raises for Council in new Strategic Plan

May 29, 2018 | 10:56 AM

LETHBRIDGE – As part of City Council’s 2017-2021 Strategic Plan, which includes a review of governance, a comprehensive housing strategy, and airport revitalization, council will likely be compensated more for their duties.

How much more? That’s still up in the air, and depends on several factors, according to Mayor Chris Spearman.

At Monday’s meeting, council voted unanimously to approve a new strategic plan over the next several years.

“City Council has been spending the last five months meeting, getting together and developing this strategic plan. So, what we want, is we want Lethbridge to be a very liveable community. We want it to be a very inclusive community,” he explained. “We want it to be a desirable community for people to live in. We want to work with our business community and address some of the issues that they’ve brought to us in terms of barrier to investment. We want to make sure that we’re listening and engaging all, to make sure that Lethbridge is a better place.”

There are five broad goals included in the new strategy: Accountable Leadership, Financial Stewardship and Economic Prosperity, Liveable Communities, Compassionate Communities and People Places for all.

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At the same time, the mayor says council wants to have greater fiscal management capabilities, so they’ve directed administration to maintain the same service levels they have today, but to absorb all inflationary increases.

“And we’ve also directed administration to look at new ways of doing things to achieve efficiencies. So, we’ve been doing many of the same things, but we want to encourage efficiencies throughout the organization to make sure that we can provide the best value for taxpayers.”

Some of the highlights of the plan include increasing the number of community engagements, developing and leveraging relationships with businesses, and being more receptive to innovation.

Under the plan, council will also work to revitalize the airport, build the Lethbridge “brand,” include more broadband access across the city, go ahead with a residential zoning review, include more community gardens and create a more resilient local food system, along with providing more inclusive services, programs and facilities.

It will also mean developers will ensure more pedestrian-friendly commercial areas and establishing a viable option for a performing arts centre.

No mention was made of the same option for a potential Exhibition Park trade and convention centre.

Spearman says council wants to be more responsive to the community and to implement a “how can we?” philosophy, instead of saying “we’ve never done that,” or “we can’t do that.”

To do that, council will look at what the goals of any given issue, concern or idea are, and then see what can be done to achieve it.

“We want to very much be in an accomplishment mode. We want to demonstrate that we’re a progressive council and we’re not just waiting for recommendations from administration.”

To do that however, LNN asked whether that would take more time than what councillors are already putting in to what is currently considered a part-time position, OR and whether it may become a full-time job.

“We’re going to be looking at council compensation. And more along the lines of potentially how much work council does. If the work load is increasing, people are more involved in committees, we can either generally increase their pay rates, or we can pay for service, if you like. So, if people put in the time, they get additional compensation.”

Spearman says what’s driving the review of council compensation this year, is the fact that federal taxation rules are changing, and some of the tax advantages elected officials currently have, will no longer apply.

That will mean councillors will get a raise, but the amount is not clear yet.

According to the City’s website, as of January 2017, Mayor Chris Spearman’s base salary was $78,119.94 with $39,059.97 unvouchered (non-taxable) pay, for a total of $117,179.91.

Also included for the Mayor is an allowable $28,000 for travel and per diem expenses.

Councillors, depending on whether they are taking on Deputy Mayoral duties, receive between $29,332.10 and $32,439.22 as a base salary with another $14,666.06 to $16,219.60 non-taxable pay, for a total of $43,998.16 to $48,658.82.

Councillors also receive $10,500 per year for travel and per diem expenses.

Mayor and Council also receive .52 per kilometre driven outside of Lethbridge when using their own vehicles for travel, and they are also eligible for extended dental/healthcare and life insurance benefits they can pay for, after three months.

“Unless we adjust the compensation rates, councillors would have significant reductions in pay. So, while we’re doing that, we’ll look at how we compensate councillors and about the equity of that.”

Spearman acknowledges that any potential raise for council either to compensate for extra work, to make the position full-time, or to simply raise current salaries to make up for fewer tax advantages will be a hard sell this year.

“It always will be, but with the proposed tax changes I think take-home pay for councillors would be reduced by 10 per cent if we did nothing. So, we should look at how we’ll compensate councillors going forward. But the important thing is to recognize the changing role of council and the changing role of individual councillors.”

In comparison, Red Deer’s mayor as of 2017 was paid $105,220 with a $4,000 vehicle allowance, internet and cell phone paid for, and pay for travel expenses and per diems.

Red Deer’s population is comparable to Lethbridge’s with just over 100,000 residents.

Councillors in Red Deer make on average about $57,871 with cell phone and internet coverage, $1,000 health and lifestyle spending account, discounts on city passes, and pay for meetings and travel expenses.

There is also “extra responsibility pay” for the mayor and council, which amounts to an hourly rate of either $35 per hour or up to $285 for 8 hours or more. They also get paid $35 per hour for their travel time. 

The complete Strategic Plan can be viewed at www.lethbridge.ca/StrategicPlan.