What's It Worth To Ya?

Political salaries always make headlines and I can understand why. There aren't too many other jobs where a group of people get's to set their own pay scale - and it's with your money. So, no wonder it's a touchy subject.

All too often though, not all the facts come out when you hear about salaries in the media.

The Daily Hearld Tribune ran an article on the subject last week and then a follow up editorial on the 9th. I think both were pretty fair overall but still missed some of the picture because they only listed a few of our council's salaries (the highs and the lows) and no comparables to give people an idea of what is realistic or at least common.

So, here's our council's full list from 2005, the most recent I could find on the city's website:

Mayor
W. Ayling $84,103

Alderman
G. Blackmore $25,330
J. Croken $31,706
C. Eckhardt $29,603
B. Given $23,771
M. Heath $26,853
D. Logan $23,623
G. Mazer $23,626
H. Rice $24,863

I've given the totals which include the base salaries as well as any per diems, benefits, confrence fees, travel expenses ect. The department of Municipal Affiars requires all municipalities to record them the same way.

Here's the same 2005 list from the County of Grande Prairie's newsletter:

Reeve
E. McDonald $73,613

Councillors
K. Balderston $63,017
L. Beaupre $71,648
J. O’Toole $75,711
P. Jacobs $63,779
D. Longson $67,859
B. Smith $72,388
R. Harpe $77,503
M. Eckstrom $54,456

So, there you go... the power of the internet huh? Now you've got all the details.