Lethbridge to review mayor, councillor workload as city continues significant growth

By Medicine Hat News on July 25, 2024.

@MedicineHatNews

LETHBRIDGE

Lethbridge city council could order a review of workload and compensation and resources available to the city’s full-time mayor and councillors, which are officially considered 20-hour per week positions.

A motion by Coun. Jenn Schmidt-Rempel calls for a review of workload, expectations and resourcing for elected officials, with details finalized after staff study the issue in late October.

That would include:

– A survey of council members on hours spent in official duties, correspondence and committee work;

– Comparison of other cities in Canada with populations between 100,000 and 250,000 residents with similar electoral system (Lethbridge uses a ward system);

– Listed duties, salaries and per-diems, plus council resource budgets of the comparable cities.

Schmidt-Rempel argues that Lethbridge’s population has grown by nearly 18 per cent over 10 years to 106,550 in 2023, and a workload review is overdue.

The rationale states that candidates in the 2025 municipal election should be given the information to be aware of resources.

The mayor’s annual compensation is listed at $130,219 while councillors make $53,349. In 2021, council voted to rollback salaries 10 per cent from 2019 levels.

In Medicine Hat, the position of mayor earned a base salary of $144,000 in 2023, according to the city’s financial report, not including benefits, while part-time councillor’s earned $48,000 in base salary.

Benefits totalled $31,000 in 2023 for mayor, while councillors claimed between $5,000 and $22,000 in benefits that year. The average among the eight council members was $13,875.

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