The $75,000 salary threshold for having a city employee’s name and pay published in municipal statements of financial information should be raised, says a Coquitlam city councillor.
Monday, council passed a notice of motion put forward by Coun. Dennis Marsden to send a resolution to this fall’s Union of B.C. Municipalities convention requesting the province raise the minimum and have it indexed to inflation.
“The threshold for $75,000 was set in 2002,” Marsden said, noting average salaries have increased significantly in B.C. since that time.
He added that he sup- ports the provincial legislation’s intent to make salaries transparent but that should be reviewed “and brought current to reflect inflationary pressures.”
In Coquitlam’s 2018 statement of financial information, 439 municipal employees made more than $75,000 and had their names published in the report. In Port Coquitlam, 177 staffers had their salaries and names included in the public document.
Mayor Richard Stewart supported raising the threshold, saying the provincial regulations are in need of an update.
“The effect of this is that we are now reporting the names and salaries of staff persons that the legislation I don’t think ever intended to capture,” he said during Monday’s meeting.
But not everyone supported Marsden’s notice of motion. Coun. Bonita Zarrillo was the lone vote against sending a resolution to the UBCM (Coun. Craig Hodge was absent), saying during Monday’s meeting she is comfortable with the current $75,000 threshold. She said she’s “on a mission to make government more transparent” and there are bigger issues for UBCM to deal with.
• For more information on Coquitlam's city hall labour costs, see: Labour costs up 3.6% in Coquitlam for 2018.
