Calgary councillors, mayor start new year with pay raise
Posted Jan 7, 2025 7:47 am.
Last Updated Jan 7, 2025 8:05 am.
Calgary’s mayor and city council are starting 2025 with a boost to their paychecks for the fourth year in a row.
The raise amounts to just over three per cent, bringing the salary for the city’s 14 councillors to $124, 462.60 per year and the salary for Mayor Jyoti Gondek to $220, 298.83.
Prior to several consecutive raises, council’s pay was frozen in 2019, 2020, and 2021, and cut in 2018.
Council pay, benefits, and other forms of compensation are determined by the Council Compensation Review Committee (CCRC) established in 2002.
In subsequent years, CCRC’s were formed to market benchmark council compensation and make recommendations for changes, according to the city.
In July 2006, council approved a recommendation from the CCRC to use the annual change in the Alberta Average Weekly Earnings (AWE) as the basis for future increases.
Then, in 2017, council accepted another committee recommendation that allowed council to vote, before each election, to accept or reject the use of the AWE indicator for the next four year term.
A council vote ahead of the 2021 election approved the use of the AWE indicator.
A raise for local officials isn’t sitting well with some Calgarians as the cost of living continues to rise, and the pocketbooks of many are feeling tighter and tighter.
“Everybody else is suffering, why can’t they?” one man told CityNews.
“They also have a family to feed, so I think it’s good,” another added. “If it’s under protocol, if it’s by the rules, then it’s good.”
A nearly eight per cent tax increase in 2024 had many up-in-arms about a pay increase for council, prompting a discussion in chambers.
Despite some councillors apparently addressing their councerns with the mayor, no one put forward a motion for a pay freeze.
Couns. Dan Maclean, Terry Wong, Sharp, Richard Pootmans, Raj Dhaliwal, and Mayor Gondek publicly stated at the time they would donate their salary boost to charity.
