City Council voted to give the next council a 40% pay raise, after receiving a report on similar mayor and council salaries.
According to compensation consultant Julie Case, Port Alberni lags behind other cities of similar size in remuneration.
Council approved increasing the mayor’s salary from $42,500 a year to $59,100 and councillor salaries from $18,800 to $26,300
Mayor Sharie Minions said the recommendation for a raise is done as arm’s-length as possible from council.
“It’s as separate as it is able to be, given the situation,” she said. “Unfortunately the current system requires that a council determines the pay for a council, so our council created the policy where we’re seperating ourselves from it as much as possible and implementing that pay change for the next group of elected officials.”
The study looked at 14 different communities, and the increase is similar to Esquimalt council, which has an almost identical population size as Port Alberni.
The raise comes in to effect in January 2023 – a year after the next election.
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