Trail city council has approved a raise for the next council to be elected in the fall, along with a new childcare expense benefit, based on the recommendations of a citizens committee.
The committee looked at both the base salary paid to mayor and council as well as how they are reimbursed for expenses, including travel to conferences.
Among the committee’s recommendations that were adopted this week:
• That the mayor’s base pay be set at $43,000 per year (an increase of $2,708 from the current $40,292).
• That base pay for each councillor be set at $21,500 per year (an increase of $2,568 from the current $18,932).
• That the base pay be increased each year afterward based on the BC consumer price index.
• That a childcare expense benefit be added.
The total salary increase across all seven councillors is $18,112. City staff will bring forward a change to the expense policy later that outlines how childcare reimbursement will work.
In their report, the committee made up of Gail Fraser, Danny Bradford, and Trevor Prior noted that council saw no base salary increase from 2022 through 2024. An increase in 2025 was based on the consumer price index.
The increase they proposed would put Trail roughly in line with the average pay of a dozen communities used for comparison, including Castlegar, Rossland, and Grand Forks, and other similar-sized municipalities further afield.
The committee said not reimbursing council members for childcare “may act as a barrier to some individuals, primarily woman, to run for elected municipal office. As most primary caregivers of children identify as women, this is an issue that disproportionately impacts women and their ability to participate in local politics.”
Corporate officer David Moorhead said the provincial government is also looking at changing the Community Charter to include paid parental leave for council members.
Mayor Colleen Jones said talking about council remuneration is “always difficult” because it’s a sensitive topic, but she appreciated the committee’s work and especially liked their suggestion around childcare expenses.
“If we’re wanting to get the younger generation involved, it’s important that we provide that for them because it is expensive to get childcare and be able to come and do the work that council does,” she said. “When we’re looking at having a healthy and vibrant community, we need to have those kind of conditions in place.”
Councillor Thea Hanson also supported the recommendation to add childcare as a reimbursable expense.
“It doesn’t affect me so much because my kids are old enough, but I would love to see those that have young children that are home with them being able to have childcare to be able to attend meetings,” she said.
However, Hanson was opposed to the other increases. “I put my hand up to run as a city councillor because I wanted to make a difference and see change, not because we got paid to be here,” she said.
The recommendations were all approved with support from the rest of council.
