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THEBACHA/FORT SMITH
Fort Smith town council has raised the honorariums for mayor and councillors, but the decision among them was split.

Mayor Janie Hobart holds a copy of the Town of Fort Smith's 2012 budget. Among other things, the budget includes separately-approved honorarium increases for the mayor and councillors. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

When the bylaw for the increases was voted on at council's Dec. 19 meeting – in advance of passing the 2012 budget, which now includes the honorarium hikes – three councillors were in favour and three against.

The tie was broken by Mayor Janie Hobart, who only votes in the case of ties.

"The council honoraria had not kept up for the past many years," she explained, noting there had been no increase for almost seven years.

When compared to other NWT municipalities, council honorariums in Fort Smith were half of those in the next lowest jurisdiction, Hobart said.

The bylaw was opposed by councillors Brad Marta, Kevin Smith and Chris Westwell, but supported by Deputy Mayor Brenda Johnson, and councillors Claudette James and Ron Holtorf.

The honorarium for the mayor will increase to $38,400 annually for the part-time job, which covers a four-hour working day and all meetings.

Under the old bylaw, the mayor's honorarium gradually increased over a term of office. The mayor's honorarium for 2012, Hobart's third year as mayor, would have been $35,500. In 2011, it was $34,000.

Each councillor and the deputy-mayor shall now receive an annual base honorarium of $6,000, or $500 monthly, for work done aside from meetings, such as preparation and research. They will also receive $100 for attending official meetings, usually three a month. The deputy mayor will also receive an extra pro-rata payment when acting on behalf of the mayor. They won't be paid for meetings they don't attend, and, if they miss three meetings in a month, they won't get the preparation money.

The honorariaums for councillors had been $4,800 a year and $5,600 for the deputy mayor. They weren’t previously getting money for meetings attended.

The increases were recommended by a committee of town residents and municipal representatives established by council to study the issue by looking at five other municipalities. The committee consisted of senior administrative officer Brenda Black, two councillors and three town residents.

"We did a comparison with municipalities in the area and the next closest one to us is Hay River, and, by implementing what we're doing here with the three standard meetings, our councillors will just come below where Hay River is right now," Black said. "So it's not like a massive increase or anything like that."

Deputy Mayor Johnson said, since the increases were based on the committee recommendations, it is not so much a council decision.

"The public is agreeing with it from this outside committee," she noted, adding she believes the increases are fair.

"We're not gouging by any means when you look at the rest of the municipalities," Johnson said.

James noted most councillors are very fortunate to have very good jobs outside of council.

"We don't do this for the money," she said of serving on council, adding increases in the honorariums may attract candidates for council among people who don't have the benefit of government jobs, but may be valuable on council.

The three councillors who voted against the increases expressed concern about timing, while agreeing in principle that honorariums should be raised.

"My opposition comes in that it's too much too fast," said Westwell.

Smith also said he fully supports in principle raising honorariums.

"The Town of Fort Smith mayor and council are vastly underpaid in comparison to the rest of the territory," he noted.

Smith suggested an incremental increase so council would not be acting in what some people might interpret as purely self interest.

After the honorarium bylaw passed, council approved its budget for 2012 with five councillors voting in favour and Smith abstaining.

Under the new budget, there will be a two-per-cent increase in municipal property taxes. That works out to about a $41 increase per $100,000 of assessed value.

Mayor Hobart is pleased with the budget, which covers the Jan. 1 to Dec. 31 fiscal year.

"I think we've done a very thorough review of the revenues and expenditures, and I feel it's a very realistic budget," she said, noting things are getting more and more expensive.

Among the many capital expenses in the new budget are $400,000 for sidewalk repair, $135,000 for a portable stage, $500,000 for chip-sealing roads, $50,000 for trails, $70,000 for fire abatement, $60,000 for tire recycling, $170,000 for a garbage compactor, $175,000 for a water delivery truck, $174,000 to upgrade the water treatment plant, and $60,000 to replace the main entrance doors at the Rec Centre.

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