Here鈥檚 a question that is bound to generate some thoughtful and articulate responses: How much money should Mayor Gregor Robertson and the six city councillors who retire this fall receive on their way out the door?
Expected answer number one: Nothing.
Expected answer number two: Something, I guess.
Expected answer number three: Who鈥檚 Greg Robinson?
Mayor Gregor Robertson and six city councillors who retire after this fall鈥檚 civic election are entitled to a 鈥渢ransition allowance鈥� when they leave office. Photo Dan Toulgoet
The fact is, Robertson and the six councillors who retire after the Oct. 20 election are entitled to some cash to help them 鈥渢ransition鈥� into whatever it is they do post-politics. I鈥檒l tell you why in a few sentences, but thought I鈥檇 get right to the dollar amounts.
Let鈥檚 start with Robertson, who was first elected in 2008 and re-elected in 2011 and 2014. When he鈥檚 done, he will have served 10 years. So what鈥檚 that worth? A cool $28,843.87.
Vision 麻豆传媒映画councillors Tim Stevenson and Raymond Louie, who were both elected way back in 2002 as members of COPE, will each receive $19,114.47. Their Vision mates, Andrea Reimer and Kerry Jang, will pick up $13,202.51 each.
NPA councillors George Affleck and Elizabeth Ball will receive $9,670.64 each.
Geoff Meggs, who resigned last year as a Vision councillor to become Premier John Horgan鈥檚 chief of staff, was already paid $7,335.73 for serving two terms.
The four councillors who want to stick around for another term鈥攖he NPA鈥檚 Melissa De Genova, the Greens鈥� Adriane Carr, Vision鈥檚 Heather Deal and Yes Vancouver鈥檚 Hector Bremner鈥攚ill all be entitled to a payout, too, if they lose their re-election bids.
De Genova would get $5,866.78, Carr a little bit more at $9,670.64 and Bremner $1,616.11. Deal would leave her seat on council with $16,035.00, which is probably enough to take her timeworn SUV through a car wash.
I should note reporter Bob Mackin did the heavy lifting to get these figures and聽聽on The Breaker June 28, when I was in America on a holiday.
Now some explanation on why these public servants are entitled to the cash鈥�
Back on聽, council unanimously approved a 鈥渢ransition allowance鈥� as part of a bigger package that included a salary increase that boosted councillors to $82,000 per year. They also approved a one-time lump sum of $8,968 to cover off their past year on the job and an additional $3,000 for extended health benefits.
The increases were based聽聽conducted by a committee that examined what other councillors across this great land earn for doing the people鈥檚 work. I won鈥檛 list the salaries of all city councils here because I鈥檝e written about this before. But know that councillors in Ottawa ($93,999) and Winnipeg ($89,346) make a better living than the 麻豆传媒映画crew.
Anyway, my focus of this piece was supposed to be about the 鈥渢ransition allowance.鈥� So here鈥檚 the condensed, edited version of the committee鈥檚 rationale for the allowance:
- The absence of a transition allowance is a material difference in the benefits provided by the city when compared to the market. The majority of comparable cities offer post retirement/transition payments to council members.
- The committee recognized the role of a council member is equivalent to full-time employment.
- The role is highly public in nature and at times requires council members to make difficult decisions, which may be unpopular.
- As in the case of other elected officials, service to the city may result in council members experiencing a period of transition upon the conclusion of their terms.
- For these reasons, the committee recommends councillors and the mayor be eligible for one week of transition allowance for every year of service on council to a maximum of eight weeks鈥� salary.
A few days ago, I circulated an email to the mayor and retiring councillors to have them justify their retirement allowances. I heard from Reimer, Affleck and Robertson, all via email.
Reimer:聽 鈥淭he fact that I am answering this at 2:15 a.m., and I started work today at 8:30 a.m.鈥攁nd this is a pretty average day鈥攑robably tells you that a salary increase from what was considered part-time wages was justified. However, the point of appointing third party HR professionals to an independent committee was to get their advice, so I thought it was important that we take it.鈥�
Affleck: 鈥淲ell, I voted against it at the time.鈥�
Then he emailed me聽聽about the vote back in 2016. What Affleck voted against was a pay increase. So did Reimer. The minutes of the meeting, however, show that both of them and the rest of council were unanimous in voting for the transition allowance.
Robertson: 鈥淭he current compensation framework for council members is based on recommendations from an independent committee. Council members receive fair and transparent compensation for their work that is in line with other municipalities but well below comparable work in the private sector and other levels of government.鈥�
All this talk about a 鈥渢ransition allowance鈥� will be familiar to regular readers, who will recall the hubbub created in March by the majority of Metro Vancouver鈥檚 board of directors, which includes several 麻豆传媒映画city councillors, who voted themselves a pay increase and retirement allowance.
Public backlash caused the board聽聽the vote and agree to create an independent panel to review the remuneration of directors. Whatever happens with that effort will go before a new board after the civic election.
Speaking of money鈥�
I鈥檝e got a couple other things I wanted to point out before I stop typing and take a summer break.
First, when you go to the section on the city鈥檚 website that shows how much the mayor and his councillors earn鈥�$165,700 and $82,029 respectively, along with $3,048 for extended health鈥攊t is in 2017 dollars.
Someone at the city might want to update that info.
Second, and what really mystifies me, is this short preamble聽: 鈥淐ouncillor salaries are based on the average earning of 麻豆传媒映画residents who are employed full-time, using census data for Vancouver.鈥�
If that statement is correct, and the average earning of a Vancouverite working full-time is at least 82K per year, then here鈥檚 a question: Why are so many people complaining about low pay and how unaffordable this city is?
Someone at the city, or some expert analyst of census data, please tell me this is a mistake鈥攖hat 82K is not the average salary for a full-time employee in Vancouver. If it is, many workers in this city have a long way to go to becoming average.
Never mind retirement.
Good luck everybody, see you in September.
