Castlegar city council has decided the next council to be elected in October will be paid about the same amount as the current one.
The mayor makes about $38,800 per year and councillors receive about $19,400 each. A remuneration committee comprised of local citizens reviewed pay, allowances, and other compensation and compared it to other municipalities of similar size, population, and operating budgets. Overall, the committee found Castlegar is average or above average.
The committee recommended maintaining the same pay rates, to be adjusted in January 2027 and annually afterward based on the BC consumer price index. The index for 2026 is two per cent.
A majority of council accepted that recommendation with little debate. But there was a much longer discussion on whether councillors should receive mileage for in-town travel.
Councillor Sue Heaton-Sherstobitoff argued reimbursement for gas shouldn’t just be for attending things outside the city.
“Being part of Canada Day and Winter Wonderland, I put on hundreds of kilometers picking up things,” she said. “And I have a lot of committees. I go to committee meetings all the time. It is money out of my pocket.”
Heaton-Sherstobitoff said unless she is reimbursed, she won’t be doing any more supply runs and the city will have to rely on its staff. She added that vehicle allowances for councillors are common in other municipalities.
However, most other members of council didn’t want to entertain the idea.
“We just came out of a pretty tight budget season,” councillor Darcy Bell said. “If we start adding anything, I’m just not in favor of it. We all go to a lot of meetings.”
Councillor Cherryl MacLeod agreed, calling it a “slippery slope.”
“Where would you start and end?” she asked. “Some of us live down the street. Some of us live across the bridge. So how would you make that seem fair and equitable?”
The mayor receives a $400 monthly car allowance. Mayor Maria McFaddin explained she is often on the road on city business to a degree that wouldn’t be expected of councillors.
Council accepted a few other suggestions from the committee but rejected one concerning the Federation of Canadian Municipalities annual conference. The existing bylaw allows for two council members to attend the conference once per four-year term, but the commitee suggested changing this to three council members and twice per four-year term. Council decided not to make this change. McFaddin said when she attended the conference in Ottawa, the total cost was about $4,600. The city has $36,000 budgeted this year for council conference travel.
