By Ashley Wiebe

Mayor, council discuss compensation changes

Dec 17, 2018 | 11:16 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — Many councillors had an opinion when discussing the changes to council compensation as listed on the council agenda.

Mayor Ted Clugston made it clear that this would not be a ‘massive increase’ and went as far as saying that he’ll be taking a net decrease when these new changes take effect in the new year.

“It’s really not an increase at all in the base compensation for the mayor or the council members,” said Robert Nicolay, chief administrative officer for the city.

“In 2017, the federal budget came down and changed the tax-exempt status of a portion of their compensation,” he said.

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The change will take effect on January 1, 2019.

Nicolay said that by not increasing the compensation, the mayor and councillors would have seen a reduction in their take home pay.

“All we did is go back through and calculate what it would take to keep them neutral to that change,” he added.

Nicolay and Clugston discuss the change below.