Council pay hike still begs questions

By Letter to the Editor on June 1, 2019.

Re: “Council compensation about as clear as mud,” May 23

Twice now Collin Gallant has done an excellent job reporting and commenting on the furor around Medicine Hat City Council’s vote to increase compensation for our municipally elected officials last December, most recently being his opinion column from last week (his other being last December shortly after the meeting in question). 

It’s a pity that, as Gallant remarks, a number of our city councillors saw fit at the time to express their discontentment with this information being reported to the public in the manner it was. Equally confusing is Gallant’s assertion that the City of Medicine Hat would simply direct the News to the Annual Report instead of answering their questions directly. Perhaps Hatters should also be asking themselves about what other financial information our elected officials aren’t being completely transparent about with them.

A point of interest, however, was when Gallant referenced Coun. Kris Samraj’s web article from Jan. 12, 2019 as being the only attempt by a locally elected official to explain the increase. In his web article, in addition to indicating that he’s personally chosen to donate his salary increase of $8,400, Samraj includes a digital copy of his year-end payslip for 2018, a detailed breakdown of a study undertaken by Grande Prairie to compare compensation at municipal levels and other useful information. It’s a true pleasure to see a councillor communicating in this manner.

Mr. Gallant, I hope you continue to report the facts as you receive them. Thank you for the work you’ve done in reporting on city council happenings, and for the work you’ll continue to do.

Michael Plait

Medicine Hat

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