Trustees Unfairly Lampooned for Modest Pay Hike

(Aired on July 7, 2010)

There must be a better way to determine the salary levels of elected officials like school trustees and city councillors. It is never an easy task, and I have never seen a situation yet where the public is happy. In tough times, the officials are getting raises on the backs of the taxpayers and the downtrodden. In good times, they're taking advantage of the situation. How can they win?

For years, the officials had to make their decisions without much of a guideline, so they tried to get around that by having their administration, or in some cases even totally independent bodies, determine appropriate salaries. Methods vary, but the most common method is to examine salaries in similar sized municipalities, faced with many of the same concerns and needs of their own city. It's about the best so far. But it's not accepted by the public.

Take the case of school trustees here. They voted themselves a measly 2% wage hike this week, and they're taking flak for it. They could have taken 7%, which was the recommendation of administration after looking at other districts. I don't think 2% was out of line. School trustees have a tough job. I understand that the raise comes amidst all the budget hassles and school closures this year. But it doesn't negate the fact they were due for an increase.

I didn't see the teachers turning down a raise. Why? Because they thought they deserved it, with all the increased workload with closures and budget restrictions. They've indicated that in a contract year, they're looking for more. And yet our local Teachers' Association President had the gall to suggest that trustees blew an opportunity to do the right thing by accepting a raise. I wonder how he'll react when teachers go after their next increase? Will he have the same view? I highly doubt it.

And to suggest that the method of determining an increase is wrong is simply ludicrous. Unions do it all the time. They look around and see how other locals are doing, many industries have pattern agreements based on a contract with a single company in a particular location. Yet they criticize school trustees for doing the same thing? Talk about a double standard.