The decision not to increase the pay for incoming city councillors was made more concrete Monday night.
The current council approved the first three readings of changes to their remuneration bylaw, which took into account recommendations made by a five-member committee last month.
The committee, consisting of Jim Blake, Jennifer Brandle-McCall, Alain LeFebvre, Adele Schlick and Trevor Williams, were charged with studying the compensation for politicians in nine other B.C. municipalities.
Council voted 7-2 to reject their recommendation that councillor salaries be increased over the next four years so that they are 40 per cent of the mayor's pay (currently $94,182).
The new bylaw, which is supposed to be reviewed in the final year of a council term, does take into account the committee's suggestions to reimburse councillors for using their personal vehicle to travel out of town and sets a $325 monthly allowance for the mayor's personal vehicle use.
Committee members also recommended swapping Coquitlam for Chilliwack on the list of comparator communities the future group looks at in a future review. These changes will come into effect on Jan. 1, 2015
