At the August meeting of the Skeena Queen Charlotte Regional District, all board members voted in favour of giving themselves a regular pay raise while also unanimously voting to cancel their own health care benefits.
SQCRD staff provided the board with a breakdown of the average pay and expenses being paid to the board members of other rural regional districts. 10 different regional districts such as Peace River, East Kootenay and Strathcona were chosen for comparison. The average pay to a board member from these regional districts was about $16,000 in 2010, well above the $13,000 average pay for SQCRD’s board members. In the SQCRD, only board members living on Haida Gwaii or Dodge Cove claimed expenses because of the travel required to come to the mainland for board meetings or other events. Mainland-based members like Jack Mussallem claimed no expenses in 2010. For those who did claim expenses the average was about $3,300, less than the average for other regional districts, which was $4,300.
The pay for board members has fallen behind that of other regional districts because the board doesn’t often give itself raises. The last time all members of the board were given a raise was in April 2006. It was because of this that board members felt that their constituents would understand if they gave themselves a raise based on the risen rate of inflation.
“I think in this day-and-age people are understanding of inflationary increases, and if there could be an adjustment done once a year, which is done by a lot of other regional districts, I think the public that we represent be understanding of that,” said board member Jack Mussallem to his colleagues.
The board members agreed with Mussallem’s assessment and voted in favour of adjusting their pay each year based on the inflation rate found in the BC Consumer Price Index. Even with this increase the SQCRD’s pay remains below average when compared to the other regional districts.
After voting in favour of the raise, the board voted to get rid of their own basic health care benefits that up until that point were paid for them by the regional district. Mussallem who introduced the motion for a raise, also introduced it.
“I don’t think its acceptable that after you become elected that the regional district pays for a medical plan, I think its up to the individual to pay that. I don’t think the public that we represent will be accepting of that. If people think we should have an increase to their stipend, lets do that. But to have a medical plan that’s been paid for, to me that seems like an entitlement,” said Mussallem.