SPC wants council to have draft policy prepared on transition allowance

By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on July 27, 2024.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com

The Governance Standing Policy Committee of city council on Thursday unanimously voted to have council recommend administration prepare a draft policy regarding a transition allowance for members of city council based on information provided to be considered by the fourth quarter of this year.

An official business motion presented to city council on June 25 by deputy mayor Jeff Carlson on the creation of a succession planning policy was brought back to Governance with initial reports and policy examples.

Carlson’s motion had also called for a succession policy to consider such things as duties of remaining councillors, remuneration, selection of mayor, deputy mayor, acting mayor and any other applicable considerations should any member of council be unable to carry out their duties or complete their term of office after a by-election has been deemed necessary or until one can be held.

Governance SPC consists of councillors Belinda Crowson, chair of the SPC, as well as Jenn Schmidt-Rempel, Rajko Dodic and John Middleton-Hope.

A report to the SPC by Chief Financial Officer and treasurer of the City Darrell Mathews says a transition allowance would have financial implications which must be budgeted for.

An initial review of those implications from around the province was done and that research “has highlighted that there are a few different options for transition allowances. However, the most common financial calculation for transition allowances provides a set number of weeks of pay based on the length of service of a council member,” says the report.

The SPC was given what the report calls a simplified example of how a scenario would work, providing the potential number of weeks of time paid as well as the number of councillors it is paid for. The report notes the example doesn’t factor in that different council members have different levels of service.

The report shows that five Alberta communities – Grande Prairie, the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, Strathcona County, Calgary and Edmonton, offer either transition allowances or in the case of Grande Prairie, a transition subsidy.

Four mid-sized communities don’t offer allowances including Medicine Hat, Airdrie, Red Deer and St. Albert.

Grande Prairie’s subsidy is calculated at 12.5 per cent of the current base salary. Mayor and council are eligible if they have served a minimum of two consecutive terms and were defeated in the most recent municipal election or they have served a minimum of two consecutive terms and chose not to run in the next election.

Wood Buffalo’s allowance is two weeks of salary for each full year of service based upon salary at the time of leaving office and a pro-rated amount based on the number of months served where an elected official served for only part of a year.

In Strathcona County, elected officials get an allowance equal to two weeks pay per consecutive year served to a maximum of 16 weeks pay.

Edmonton provides council members with a taxable allowance equal to three weeks pay for each year served up to a maximum of 39 weeks.

In Calgary, mayor and council receive an allowance of two weeks per year up to a maximum of 26 years service. For those who resign or don’t run again the maximum number of weeks of transition allowance is 26.

One high level estimate of what the cost of a transition allowance would be here shows that for one councillor the cost per week would be $1,244. For a total of 16 weeks, that sum would be $19,910.

If all eight councillors were to leave the weekly cost would be $9,955 or $159,283 if they were all paid for 16 weeks.

Those figures would be higher if benefits were included. In the case of one councillor that would increase the allowance to $1,534 for one week or $24,540 for 16. For all eight councillors to have 16 weeks allowance with benefits, the total would rise to $196,317.

If the mayor were to leave, the allowance cost would be $3,062 per week without benefits and $3,774 with.