Sohi’s motion to cut salary to match Calgary mayor’s fails at Edmonton City Hall

An effort by Mayor Amarjeet Sohi to chopped his wage truthful that it equals the compensation received by Calgary’s politician was voted down by Edmonton metropolis council connected Thursday arsenic respective councillors expressed the request for lawmakers not to play a relation successful deciding their ain pay.

“That motion, if passed, would person been mounting his ain salary,” Coun. Andrew Knack noted. “And we person purposely designed a process to not acceptable our ain salaries.”

Knack was 1 of 7 metropolis councillors who voted against the motion. Five councillors voted successful enactment of it.

The crushed Sohi earns much per twelvemonth than Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek is due to the fact that portion some metropolis councils froze their salaries during portion of the COVID-19 pandemic, Calgary salaries had been frozen for an other year.

The wage for Edmonton’s politician and metropolis assembly is recommended by the autarkic assembly compensation committee truthful that metropolis assembly is not tasked with mounting salaries. A ballot was held connected the committee’s latest wage recommendations connected Thursday but the adjacent reappraisal is not expected to hap until 2032.

“I interest that an eight-year clip framework is rather agelong and the spread (between the salaries of Edmonton and Calgary’s mayors) volition proceed to turn and this question volition proceed to linger,” Sohi said.

After being presented with the committee’s report, metropolis assembly voted 11-1 successful favour of moving guardant with its recommended increases. The basal wage for Edmonton’s politician volition spell from $216,585 successful 2024 to $223,093 successful 2025 portion the basal salaries for metropolis councillors volition spell from $122,363 to $126,034.

The ballot came as metropolis assembly faces ongoing fiscal pressures and tries to mitigate spot taxation increases. Coun. Aaron Paquette was the lone 1 to ballot against the wage increases, thing helium told Global News helium planned to bash a time earlier.

“For assembly compensation, if assembly wants to amusement leadership, I judge that they should frost their compensation this year,” Paquette said connected Wednesday.

It was astir a twelvemonth agone that metropolis assembly passed a bylaw to found a impermanent autarkic assembly compensation committee to behaviour a broad reappraisal of compensation for members of metropolis council.

To enactment unneurotic its report, the committee took portion successful discussions astir compensation, reviewed statistical information connected compensation and compared it with lawmakers successful different municipalities and astatine different levels of authorities and surveyed the nationalist connected the matter.

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The study notes the committee was asked to guarantee compensation is due “to pull a divers scope of candidates,” looks astatine hours enactment successful astatine enactment by members of metropolis council, that salaries are comparable to those successful different jurisdictions and to marque its recommendations “reasonable successful airy of economical circumstances and the city’s objectives and fiscal constraints.”

“Overall, the City of Edmonton has adopted a blimpish attack to compensation increases successful caller years, mindful of economical pressures portion ensuring the remuneration remains competitory and fair,” the study says.

“Reviews are mostly conducted each 2 assembly terms, with this 2024 reappraisal being an interim reappraisal undertaken due to the fact that of the exceptional circumstances successful 2020.”

The committee besides looked astatine factors similar wage trends, ostentation and cost-of-living adjustments, arsenic good arsenic Statistics Canada information connected mean play net successful Alberta.

“In Alberta this indicator has seen mean maturation successful caller years, with caller wage adjustments reflecting the determination economical betterment post-pandemic,” the committee’s study says.

Knack said helium believes not accepting the report’s recommendations would person been problematic.

“That would person changed the process, which is meant to beryllium independent, which is meant to assistance springiness assurance to the nationalist that we are not going to commencement getting progressive successful a process depending connected which wherefore the governmental winds are blowing,” helium said.

–With files from Global News’ Jaclyn Kucey