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Gibsons council reviews gross pay

Finance
gibsons

Councillors in Gibsons are joining several others in looking at increasing their gross pay to compensate for the loss of an income-tax exemption. One-third of the remuneration for local government representatives has been tax-free, but that will end Jan. 1, 2019.

Mayor Wayne Rowe raised the issue at the June 19 meeting after council received the 2017 Statement of Financial Information, which includes a breakdown of council pay and expenses. 

“A number of councils have been looking at, and in many cases recommending, some changes in remuneration to adjust the remuneration so that, essentially, councillors and elected officials remain in the same net position that they would have been before,” Rowe said. “I suspect in our case we’re not talking a huge dollar number.”

Council voted to have the director of finance draft a report.

In 2017, Rowe was paid $32,722 and council pay ranged from $16,163 to $17,507.

Sechelt council already has a proposal on the table to increase the gross pay of its councillors in order to leave them with roughly the same take-home pay as they currently get.