Prince Albert's council chambers during 2024 budget talks. (Jaryn Vecchio/paNOW Staff)

By Jaryn Vecchio

2024 Budget

‘It’s a small increase:’ P.A. council votes against removing salary bump during 2024 budget talks

Nov 16, 2023 | 5:00 PM

Should Prince Albert’s mayor and council get a raise?

That was a question they debated on Thursday during the first day of budget talks for 2024.

Councillor Terra Lennox-Zepp made multiple motions to remove the roughly 2.9 per cent increase they would be getting as part of the current pay structure which aligns their salaries with Saskatchewan cabinet ministers.

This means the mayor earns 57 per cent of what a cabinet minister receives, while councillors will get around 33 per cent of what the mayor gets. This means the mayor’s 2024 salary would be $91,512, while councillors are looking at $30,748.

These motions were defeated with only Councillor Tony Head agreeing with Lennon-Zepp. Councillor Dennis Ogrodnick was not at the meeting.

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“It’s a small increase for a workload that’s increasing,” said Councillor Blake Edwards.

This would be the first time since 2017 that council would see more take home pay than the previous year. There were six raises in the years between, however, increases to taxes and inflation stopped them from earning any additional money. Back in 2019, council did receive a 12.28 per cent raise, though they didn’t receive any extra cash as this was done to offset the federal government’s decision to make their entire salary taxable.

Edwards explained it’s frustrating that people assume they’re padding their pockets. While he didn’t name any person or specific group that’s made these claims, CUPE 882 has been calling out the increases during the roughly two months they’ve been on the picket line.

“The mayor and council are employees of the city as well. We don’t sign up to become rich, but we need money (to compensate),” added Edwards.

Meanwhile, Lennon-Zepp told paNOW she doesn’t believe council’s salaries should be determined by the provincial government.

“Just because the Saskatchewan Party has made an increase with their wages, it does not mean that mayor and councillors should also receive the increase.”

She also noted the city is looking at a 14.5 per cent increase to the tax rate in 2024. Because of this, they’re trying to find savings anywhere they can to lessen the burden on taxpayers.

“We are representing an entire city of individuals who are affected by taxation and any loss of services… so I was taking into account all of those factors,” said Lennox-Zepp.

Council’s raise is not a 100 per cent certainty at this point. The entire 2024 budget, which would include the increase, still needs to be finalized and then approved.

Budget talks are still slated to happen on Friday and Saturday with two additional days later in the month having also been set aside.

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Jaryn.Vecchio@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @princealbertnow