Calgary City Council to discuss pay raise for mayor, councillors

Have you got a pay raise this year?

Well, Calgary City Council has, for the third consecutive year.

Your councillor’s wage would have increased by a little over 2.4 per cent at the start of the new year.

The city says Mayor Jyoti Gondek is now being paid a little over $213,000, while Calgary’s 14 councillors make a little over $120,000.

Now, with a little more money in their pockets, the mayor says a discussion will be had about council pay during Tuesday’s council meeting.

“I’m very interested to see council have a discussion about this,” Gondek said. “We will also have the opportunity to hear from our human resources department about how the council compensation committee was formed, what their mandate is, and how they set compensation for council.”

An independent commission is in charge of evaluating the wages, and increases to wage are tied to the average increase that Albertans get, meant to provide relief from inflation.

But, council can opt for a pay freeze — something they chose to do in 2019, 2020, and 2021.

“We will be able to dispel the myth that sometimes still prevails that we set our own compensation, we absolutely do not,” Gondek added. “So [Tuesday] will be a good opportunity to talk about how council compensation is set and what we’re going to do for this year.”

In online discussion forums, some residents say they don’t see a problem with the pay raise, given it follows a standard.

Others aren’t too pleased with the idea of council getting more money, after learning of an increase to property taxes this year of almost eight per cent.