PG City Council says yes to 3.5% raise

Prince George’s Mayor and Council will be getting a raise at the start of next year.

A recommendation was brought forward to council by the Advisory Committee on Council Remuneration, consisting of Martin Taylor (Chair), Deborah Abraham, Ethan Anderson, Kyanna Coe, and Solomon Kpeh.

The committee found that PG’s City Council was the least paid, and the Mayor was the fourth highest paid out of nine comparator communities.

The committee recommended that Councillor remuneration be increased by 3.5%, and Mayor remuneration be increased by 1% on January 1st, 2023, with the same raise given one year later.

For the first year, the raise for Councillors would be $1,326.78, and for the Mayor it would be $1,294.51.

The recommendation was carried 6-3, with Councillors Biran Skakun (appearing via Zoom), Terri McConnachie, and Garth Frizzell voting against the recommendation.

The Councillors who voted in favor the recommendation said the raise would be good to bring new voices to the table in the future.

“It’s about attracting candidates for the position,” said Councillor Frank Everitt.

“We’re not just talking about getting a raise for ourselves per say, it’s up to the citizens within Prince George to determine who is elected as their council going forward.”

Councillor Frizzell disagreed.

“We’re not making decision about attracting people right now, we’re making decisions about what the pay is going to look like for the next council,” Frizzell said.

“I’m really not comfortable with going with a seven percent increase to the council salaries.”

Councillor Cori Ramsay said the increase would help with some of the sacrifices Councillors have to make to their work outside of council.

“As a young person who has to work full-time, it’s really tough to sit here and commit so much time,” Ramsay said.

“I love this job, I really do, but I make a ton of sacrifices. I have had to take 104 unpaid days off of work to attend council meetings. I have spent 20 weeks of vacation, I haven’t gone on an actual vacation in a very long time in order to sit around this table, because I think it’s important that young voices have a seat here.”

Councillor Kyle Sampson said he wasn’t a fan of the process.

“It’s not fun to sit here and and say ‘you’re right and we should make more’ or ‘you’re wrong and we shouldn’t’ because everyone has different opinions on this,” Sampson said.

“I didn’t sign up for this job for the paycheque, however, this paycheque does not necessarily accurately represent the work you put into this job.”

Council also voted on three other motions relating to benefits and expenses for Councillors.

Those included:

• The Committee recommends that, effective January 1st, 2023, the City of Prince George pays 50% of the extended health and dental benefits premiums for councillors who opt into the group benefits program (carried 7-2, Ramsay and Sampson opposed).
• The Committee recommends that , effective January 1st, 2023, the City of Prince George reimburse the actual costs to a maximum of $40 per day of babysitting or child-minding expenses, for children under the age of 12, incurred by a Council member while attending a Council or Committee meeting, Event, or Official Function (carried unanimously).
• The Committee recommends that Councillors be reimbursed for the use of a personal vehicle for the discharge of the duties of their office at a rate of $250 per month, inclusive of kilometres driven and vehicle insurance as is the case with the Mayor’s vehicle allowance in section 4.4 of the Bylaw (defeated unanimously)

At the end of tonight’s meeting (Monday), council directed staff to look into other options when it comes to determining the salary for Councillors.

Other items discussed at tonight’s meeting included annual reports from the Downtown Businesses Improvement Association, Tourism PG, The PG Public Library, and the Northern Sport Centre.