A Revelstoke councillor has resigned after the city’s council voted huge pay increases for themselves.
Steven Cross said the raises – 134% for the mayor and 67% for the councillors – should have gone into infrastructure instead.
He highlighted the city’s $500,000 “revenue hole” and said boosting officials’ pay meant putting “self-interest over mission of service to our community.''
Cross’s resignation, which he read out to council after his motion to shift the cash into infrastructure spending was defeated on Jan. 21, is effective from Feb. 7.
His resignation letter stated that approving the raises without third-party research or vetting would “erode public trust.”
He added: “Approving these raises with a ratio of close to 3:1 in favour of the mayor [...] does not foster a positive sense of team and it is not the leadership model that is right for our community.”
“I am sorry to those who I might have disappointed with this decision but honestly I could not see myself continuing to work with our mayor and those councillors who chose self-interest over the mission we were all elected to serve,” Cross said.
During the meeting itself, Cross explained that he was not opposed to the idea of a raise in principle, but that it should be done in a transparent way.
Some of the other councillors, however, said that the pay increases represented “fair pay for fair work” and said enough research had been done.
The pay increases will ultimately boost the mayor’s salary from $30,600 to $70,000 and the councillors’ from $15,300 to $25,000.
