Kelowna, B.C. city council finalizes pay hike in close vote
Global News
The four councillors who voted against the pay hike were Mohini Singh, Ron Cannon, Rick Webber and Gordon Lovegrove.
With a close vote of 5 to 4 on Monday, Kelowna, B.C., city council has formally given itself a big pay hike — 15 per cent for the mayor, bringing the salary up to just over $145,000, while councillors will receive a 30-per cent raise and will now make about $58,000.
“This is not an easy discussion,” said Kelowna Mayor Tom Dyas right after the vote. “It would have been an easy discussion…it would have been done many years ago.”
Public feedback prompted the pay raise to be phased in with the full amount coming into effect January 2025, instead of one large raise being implemented right away.
The pay hike follows a recent review of a dozen B.C. municipal councils of like-sized cities, with Kelowna second from the bottom when it came to the mayor’s salary and dead last for council remuneration.
“I really see this as a move for equity and accessibility in this space and unfortunately, it hasn’t been done in the past, so now we’re coming in last,” said Coun. Loyal Wooldridge.
“The demands on what we’re dealing with now is very different than 30 years ago. We are dealing with extremely complex social files. We’re dealing with extremely complex development files, and to do this job properly, you can’t be working another full-time job to supplement it. I tried to do it. I had to sell my business to do this full-time.”
The four councillors who voted against the pay hike were Mohini Singh, Ron Cannon, Rick Webber and Gordon Lovegrove.
Cannon supported the pay hike when it came before council on March 25, but when his motion to defer the pay raise until after the 2026 municipal election was voted down, he joined the three in voting against it.
