Oh ! Did We Forget To Tell You We Are Taking A Raise

Wednesday, January 20, 2010 03:45 AM

Now what would a reasonable thinking person say if two parts of the City of Prince George Council Agenda dealing with a pay raise were not included in the published and media agenda?

That was the case at this week’s City Council meeting when, according to the City Hall officials, they inadvertently did not include two attachments which covered the new method of calculating remuneration increases for the Mayor and Council members.

Had it not been for the Opinion250 reporter who was attending the council meeting and picked up a comment from a councillor on the raise issue, the matter might not have ever seen the light of day. Well not really because the Council did pass the manner in which their annual pay increases are calculated. But publishing the fact that the Mayor and Council had received a 2.7% increase in their pay is not exactly what City hall likes to promote.

Are the Mayor and Council being underpaid, well you can always find a figure to support your argument. In reality however if you were to take a look at cities of similar size in BC you would find that we are indeed right up there in paying for our help.

We should now trot out the campaign promises in which Councillors and the Mayor said they are not in it for the money, and they let their names stand hoping to do something for the greater good of the city.

Somehow looking after one’s self before looking at the plight of the city taxpayers doesn’t suggest that.

I’m Meisner and that’s one man’s opinion.

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Posted on Wednesday, January 20, 2010 03:45 AM in Views by Ben Meisner

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Comments

Posted by: Eagleone on January 20 2010 8:12 AM

To much secrecy in money matters. It shows a lack of respect for the tax payers in this city by the city administration.

Posted by: Municca on January 20 2010 8:16 AM

In the real world real people ask for raises from the people who pay their wages. The city is whining that they have to raise taxes YET AGAIN this year! We have seen raises in our taxes the last three years in a row. If you need to raise the taxes that must mean that the city has lost money. Any BUSINESS ON THIS PLANET does not doll out pay hikes in a time of losses. Pay raises should be up to the people who pay the wages. This is ridiculous and needs to stop. The mayor of this city makes more than any other mayor for the size of city. Why? He is doing the worst job! I am sick to death of all levels of governments giving themselves a raise while the rest of us don’t get one due to the recession.

Posted by: MrPG on January 20 2010 8:20 AM

"But publishing the fact that the Mayor and Council had received a 2.7% increase in their pay is not exactly what City hall likes to promote."

Reading the comments here, it's not hard to understand why. The money used for raises is nothing in terms of the City budget. As I said in another thread, there are bigger fish to fry than this.

Posted by: metalman on January 20 2010 8:22 AM

Thanks for exposing this, Ben and Elaine. It seems that our municipal politicians feel they are above the rest of us who cannot simply vote ourselves a pay raise.
metalman.

Posted by: Andyfreeze on January 20 2010 9:46 AM

I have never been in favour of governments on any level having the power to vote themselves pay raises.
If we have learned nothing from the self-serving Campbell government,we should have learned it is a really bad idea!
How much did they give themselves at a time when everyone else was getting 3 percent, if they were lucky?
And was that one raise...or two?

Posted by: diplomat on January 20 2010 10:45 AM

Andy, I argued to no avail with NDP insiders who always made the argument that politicians and ministers and ministry staff must be more than well paid (in fact handsomely rewarded at all times!) because otherwise people with exceptional qualities would not be persuaded to run for election or work for the government!

As soon as a non-NDP government gives itself a raise the wailing comes from where?

You guessed it. After a lot of posturing and indignant protests these people usually end up getting the same raise, often retroactively.

Posted by: saywhat on January 20 2010 10:49 AM

"because otherwise people with exceptional qualities would not be persuaded to run for election or work for the government!"

and as soon as I see some of those people in office I will say give them a raise.

Posted by: pg250fan on January 20 2010 11:08 AM

This is another item in a growing list of proof that the current council cares only for its own interests. It also shows that their election promises (big suprise here...) mean nothing to themselves. I think they have shown, once again, a clear lack of respect for the people of Prince George that work hard every day to make not only our own ends meet, but also the ends of the City meet via our ever growing tax bills. Perhpas the 2.7% raise is to offset the tax hike they gave to all of us, so they see no net difference at the end of the day. This would be well in line with their clearly defined platform of self interest.

Posted by: Andyfreeze on January 20 2010 11:34 AM

Bang on diplomat...and don't think the NDP didn't know that when they started all the posturing and indignant crying!
Now they don't talk about it anymore.
Commonly known as smoke and mirrors!
There was never any doubt the NDP would end up taking the raise!

Posted by: metalman on January 20 2010 3:32 PM

"As soon as I see some of those people in office I will say give them a raise"
Bang on. saywhat.
metalman.

Posted by: Honestjoe on January 20 2010 5:27 PM

City council gets a raise in excess of inflation when private pensions gave no increase for 2010. It seems that all the campaign promises have be forgotten and it is all above pocketing the taxpayers dollar.
Ben and Elaine.....I was hoping you would state the percentage of the mayor's and council's renumeration that is income tax exempt.
We need a forensic audit of City Hall and a real reduction in the size of local government. What are we paying for administration of the City? What are we paying for the essentials of the City?
We need some answers soon before the property owners of PG are bled dry by the bureaucrats and politicians.

Posted by: B Fish on January 21 2010 7:46 AM

Still crying over the NDP Diplomat.
If that makes you better.
This is a 10 year conservative mess.
No one elses.

Posted by: B Fish on January 21 2010 8:20 AM

oops, a liberal mess. And I am sure anyone of the parties would have mees up all the same.

Posted by: GoodCitizen on January 21 2010 12:04 PM

Ben - If the numbers are available, why not publish them? Is it because our councillors are the lowest paid in the province and then you would be wrong? C'mon now. Fight fair. Let's see the numbers.

Posted by: GoodCitizen on January 21 2010 12:21 PM

Oh and $618/yr ? Geez that's sure a lot of money.

Posted by: Harbinger on January 21 2010 3:10 PM

We found out how much dough doctor receive from their billing numbers. How about everyone at city hall? Don't need to embarrass the folks at city hall with their names, just state how many bucks per job title and the amount of titles given out? Embarrassing? Hmmm?

Posted by: acrider54 on January 22 2010 7:33 PM

Fill your boots

[url]http://www.vancouversun.com/news/public-sector-salaries/advanced-search.html#

Posted by: acrider54 on January 22 2010 7:34 PM

Try again [url]http://www.vancouversun.com/news/public-sector-salaries/advanced-search.html#[url]

Posted by: acrider54 on January 22 2010 7:35 PM

Anyway copy and paste