A slightly better economic picture for Central Alberta will help put a little extra cash in the pockets of elected leaders and other non-unionized staff at Red Deer City Hall.
On Monday, city council unanimously supported a 2.9 per cent pay increase retroactive to Jan. 1, 2011.
The increase affects 130 non-unionized (exempt) staff including the city manager, directors, managers, and specialists. The eight councillors plus the mayor will receive the same increase.
Council will see their annual salary bumped to $28,335 from $27,556. Mayor Morris Flewwelling will be paid $84,157 this year compared with $81,785 in 2010. Manager Craig Curtis will get an annual paycheque of $200,893 in 2011, up from $195,231 last year.
Human Resources Manager Marge Wray said a number of factors led to the suggested 2.9 per cent increase, including looking at what other mid-sized cities in Alberta were paying their employees.
She also looked at the projected economic forecast for Canada and the wages in accordance with it. Across Canada, pay is on average rising 2.9 per cent and in Alberta, it’s the same. The oil industry is showing about 3.6 per cent in pay increases this year.
RBC Economics is projecting that Alberta’s economic growth will be second only to Saskatchewan in 2011.
“We’re competing again against the private sector,” said Marge Wray.
The city also looks at what other big employers are giving their staff in Red Deer. Some give larger increases one year, but then toe the line the next so the salary increases tend to level out, Wray said.
Councillor Tara Veer said she would prefer council’s salaries not tied in with the exempt staff’s salaries.
“I find it personally hard to vote on our own salaries,” she said.
She would prefer that midway through a council’s three-year term that they would then vote on salary changes for the next serving council. That way, it would depoliticize the issue, Veer said.
Unionized staff saw an average increase of 4.35 per cent in 2010. Five unions represent civic employees. Canadian Union of Public Employees have the only settled contract for 2011 at three per cent.
Wray said they try to manage their negotiations so that the increases don’t get too high during multi-year contracts — but during these periods the economics can change.
“It’s not an exact science,” she said.
But Councillor Chris Stephan said these union pay hikes have far outstripped cost of living increases. During 2009 and 2010, the overall average for unionized staff came in at over 10 per cent.
“We need to look at that and see if that’s sustainable over the long run,” he said.
ltester@www.reddeeradvocate.com