Times Chronicle Staff
It doesn’t appear that a remuneration task force in Oliver will review much of anything. That’s because not much interest has been shown.
It was previously resolved that a task force be set up to undertake a review (comparison) of town council’s remuneration package. But so far not many people have been clambering to start the review.
On Monday town staff recommended council rescind its resolution to form the independent group of five Oliver residents to scrutinize what councillors are paid, comparing other municipalities.
Corporate Officer Diane Vaykovich reported that local advertising and social media posts resulted in one application to sit on the task force. Staff also contacted former CAOs, corporate officers and mayor to determine their interest, but only one indicated their curiosity. The South Okanagan Chamber of Commerce was also contacted but no bites there.
In the corporate officer’s report, it shows the mayor’s position came with a remuneration of $20,585 in 1996. In 2021 that jumped to $29,600, an increase of $9,015.
In 1996, the councillor remuneration was $10,978. That jumped to $15,786 in 2021. Water councillors made $4,116 in 1996, compared to $5,919 last year.
In the end, council directed staff to draft a council remuneration policy without a task force.
