The next batch of city councillors will make the same amount of money as the current crop, following a Monday night vote to not increase the annual salary.
Council voted 7-2 to reject an advisory committee recommendation to bring the councillor wage up to 40 per cent of the mayor's wage by 2018.
The five-person group, charged with looking at mayor and council remuneration - including per diem amounts, vehicle and technology allowances and expenses - had suggested a phased-in plan with no changes in 2015, but increasing pay to 35 per cent of the mayor's salary in 2016, to 37.5 per cent in 2017 and reaching 40 per cent in 2018.
This year, councillors bring home $31,394, which ranks ninth out of 10 comparator communities. The mayor is compensated to the tune of $94,182, which ranks No. 6 out of 10 comparator communities.
There were no recommendations to adjust the mayor's salary.
But upping the pay after a term focused on fiscal restraint was sending the wrong message, said many around the table.
Coun. Cameron Stolz commended the committee, consisting of Jim Blake, Jennifer Brandle-McCall, Alain LeFebvre, Adele Schlick and Trevor Williams, on doing a thankless job.
"You're looking at a piece of work, it doesn't matter what you come back with unless you reset all of our wages to a dollar a year, nobody in the public's going to be happy with it," he said.
In their report, the committee pinpointed the predominant motivation for serving on council was the desire for public service, but they also noted a need to compensate at a rate that would draw competent people for the work.
"If somone is really motivated to serve publicly and lose your privacy and who knows what else, the priority should be 'I am there, I am serving the public' and the priority should not be how much money do I make," said Coun. Albert Koehler.
The committee was making a modest proposal, argued Coun. Dave Wilbur, who along with Mayor Shari Green voted in favour of the wage increase.
"By my calculation, that's about $156 a month, a year and a half from now," Wilbur said. "What are we going ape about?... Shame on us."
It's not an issue of shame versus courage, said Coun. Garth Frizzell, but what makes sense.
"While the compensation proposed is fair, it's not the right thing to do," he said.
The committee also successfully recommended that mayor and council remuneration continue to be looked at in the second quarter of the group's final year. That would put the next review in 2018.
