Prince George's city manager should receive a 15 per cent raise to stay in line with what similar positions are paid elsewhere in B.C., according to a consultant's report.
"If the City wishes to pay at the middle of the comparison market, we would recommend a 2017 salary in the range of $263,000 to $265,000," wrote Katherine Sainas of Sainas Consult in her report sent to the city's human resources director last November.
Such a wage hike stands in stark contrast to the four-year collective agreement ratified last October by the city's unionized employees represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees. They agreed to increases of two per cent in 2017, 1.5 per cent in 2018, 1.5 per cent in 2019 and 1.75 per cent in 2020.
The city's 2011 policy allows the city manager to set wages and other benefits for the municipal government's senior bureaucrats without city council oversight. Mayor and council have direct authority over the city manager, however, including setting wages and benefits.
Sainas found that four Lower Mainland municipalities of comparable size to Prince George - Coquitlam, Langley, Delta and North Vancouver - paid their city managers an average annual salary of $282,270 in 2017, before overtime, vacation payouts and other taxable benefits such as a vehicle and phone allowance. In the four comparable municipalities outside of the Greater Vancouver area - Kelowna, Nanaimo, Kamloops and Chilliwack - the average city manager salary last year was $247,481 while the median was $263,560.
By comparison, Kathleen Soltis, Prince George's city manager, was paid a salary of $229,827 before other benefits in 2016. Sainas notes in her report that her data is current as of September 2017 and, as of that time, only one city in her analysis - Prince George - had not adjusted salaries for 2017.
While all four comparable Lower Mainland city managers receive vehicle allowances, none of the cities outside of Greater Vancouver paid a vehicle allowance to its city manager. Prince George, however, pays a $500 monthly vehicle allowance to its city manager.
Overtime for city managers varies across B.C., from two municipalities (not named by the consultant) that don't provide pay or time off in lieu of overtime to one, two and up to three additional weeks off, one of which may be paid in cash. In Prince George, the city manager receives two extra weeks of vacation to attend evening meetings, which can't be carried forward or paid out.
As for vacation, the "City of Prince George City Manager's vacation is more generous than the median of the market between years 2 and 15," Sainas wrote in her report.
Prince George grants its city manager four weeks holiday in year one, five weeks in year two and six weeks in year three and beyond. Meanwhile, the median vacation entitlement in the comparable communities is four weeks for years one through three, only going up to five weeks after eight years and then to six weeks after 16 years.
Yet Sainas actually found that Soltis isn't getting enough vacation compared to her peers. The median for city managers with 30 or more years of experience is 33 days or six-and-a-half weeks off each year.
That was a running trend in the Sainas review. Even though Soltis has been a city manager for just over three years and she had never been one before she rose to the position in Prince George, she's somehow entitled to the top rate. Furthermore, Sainas stated that Prince George's allotment for city manager vacation, overtime and vehicle allowance are all "competitive with the market," right after she provided data showing that it's more than the average.
Taking just salary into account, Prince George is paying its city manager below market rate but once factoring in the additional vacation, the holiday time in lieu of overtime and the car allowance, Soltis seems to be doing just fine compared to her counterparts.
There's been a lot of well-deserved criticism in this space in the last couple of weeks about how generously paid the top bosses at Prince George city hall are. City residents have every right to be angry.
Especially because it's a different story outside of city limits.
Compared to the City of Prince George, the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George seems to run a much leaner operation and keeps a closer eye on management wages. Jim Martin, its chief administrative officer, made $177,200 last year. All nine members of Prince George's management team were paid more than that and the city manager, his direct counterpart, racked up $107,280 more than he did.
Further details on the regional district and how well they compare to the City of Prince George and other regional districts tomorrow.
-- Eidtor-in-chief Neil Godbout
