The issue of remuneration came up once more at Town of St. Paul council on Nov. 28, as councillors continued to debate which route they would take on issues of pay.
Council decided to hold the line, and no increases will be seen in the remuneration policy. Council also decided to move ahead with individual budgets that will limit spending on conferences.
Coun. Ken Kwiatkowski said he felt that councillors should be paid something when they have to leave for an out-of-town meeting or conference a day ahead of time, for example, when travelling to Calgary for an event that starts at 8 a.m.
Coun. Judy Bogdan noted that she felt it was “part of the give and take” of being on council.
As for moving ahead with individual budgets for conferences, only Kwiatkowski voiced concern over the $5,000/year amount recommended for councillors. The mayor would have a $10,000 budget.
One conference in particular that has been discussed is the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) conference, which often takes place outside of the province. Although councillors regularly attend the conference, it has mostly been on a rotation basis. With a budget, councillors could decide themselves if they wanted to spend their money on attending FCM.
Kwiatkowski noted that for councillors who decide to attend FCM, their budgets would be used up rather quickly.
“Are you being fair to the town?” he asked.
Coun. Edna Gervais noted that the $5,000 budget would be reviewed every year, and if it didn’t work, the next council could change it.
“The bottom line is councillors would be responsible for their own budget,” said Mayor Glenn Andersen. It was noted that council is already very close to those budget numbers already.
An exception to the rule will be if councillors have to travel outside of the area to attend a meeting related to a committee on which they sit; those expenses would not come out of their budget, since they are required to attend.
The individual budgets would account for accommodations, meal, conference fees, and mileage.
A motion to set the remuneration rates was carried, while administration will again make the needed changes to the Remuneration Policy and bring it back to council for approval.
*Council’s expenditures as of October 31 (not including honoraria).
Glenn Andersen $6,808.88 $10,000
Don Padlesky $3,548.93 $5,000
Ken Kwiatkowski $3,193.33 $5,000
Dwight Wiebe $3,205.88 $5,000
Edna Gervais $4,964.19 $5,000
Normand Noel $1,430.60 $5,000
Judy Bogdan $1,590.31 $5,000
