FACE TO FACE: Should Port Moody city councillors get a pay raise?
Should Port Moody city councillors get a raise?
According to reports, some councillors are looking to increase their salaries to bring in line with the compensation packages of their brethren in the Tri-Cities. Moody councillors currently make about $25,000 annually while Coquitlam councillors earn approximately $53,800 and Port Coquitlam taxpayers shell out about $31,600 for theirs.
On the surface, it looks like a no-brainer. "Pay them more," says my spendthrift colleague opposite.
But let's look at this a little more closely.
The other cities have much larger populations: Coquitlam has 127,000 people, Port Coquitlam has about 58,000 while PoMo has a population of just 34,000. If you look at it in terms of the number of constituents they serve, the current salaries seem pretty fair to me.
Moreover, and as I've argued in this space before, we have way too many city councillors in the Tri-Cities as is. For example: When you include Anmore and Belcarra, the Tri-Cities have municipal councillors and five mayors for a population of about 220,000 people. By comparison, the city of Vancouver, which has a population of about 600,000, has just 10 councillors and one mayor. Incidentally, Vancouver city councillors make just $65,860 per year, not including expenses.
Of course, there's always the argument about the having to pay high salaries to attract quality people.
A representative from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation does a better job disputing that theory than I can. "[City councillors] run because they have a passion for their community, because they want to give back, because they want to effect change and shape policy," the CTF's Jordan Bateman says. "And there are a lot of other perks that come with the job. There's networking opportunities, there's the profile. The Tri-Cities recently saw two Coquitlam councillors become MLAs who now earn more money."
To be clear, I have the utmost respect for city councillors in Port Moody. They are hard working and have done a great job of guiding the city into becoming one of the bright lights of Metro Vancouver.
But should taxpayers be emptying their pockets to make councillors wallets fatter? I don't think that's necessary.
Andy Radia is a Coquitlam resident and political columnist who writes for Yahoo! Canada News and Vancouver View Magazine. He has been politically active in the Tri-Cities, having been involved with election campaigns at all three levels of government, including running for Coquitlam city council in 2005.
