There has been a lot of reporting on Council’s 2024 pay increase over the past couple months, including it being discussed in Council this week. Read on to find my perspective on this contentious issue...

Previous Councils have attempted to remove themselves from decision points on their wages by setting up The Council Compensation Review Committee (CCRC) to provide third-party recommendations. The CCRC is established every electoral cycle and provides recommendations to Council on the compensation package. It is important to note that the CCRC has recommended freezes as recently as 2021. While I am fully behind the intent of the CCRC, its recommendations have been frequently ignored and its ability to keep the decision point independent has largely been a failure in recent times. 

I fully recognize that the recommendations of the CCRC were not made with the foresight of the economic strain that we currently find ourselves in. I have previously publicly stated that I would have voted in favour of a freeze this year should a decision point come before Council. At Council this week no motions were brought forward to counter the CCRC’s decisions and initiate a pay freeze. While I would have voted in support had any of my colleagues come with this motion, I also firmly believe the role of the CCRC is important and that Council intervention should be avoided. I had no intention of bringing the motion myself. Costs are going up everywhere and that has led to The City adding additional strain to Calgarians in our most recent budget—not an easy decision last November. I stand behind that decision because we cannot ignore our local issues or stop investing in our collective future. You can find my thoughts on that decision here.

I will be joining a number of my colleagues in donating my pay increase to charity.

Evan Spencer

Cllr. Ward 12

UPDATE: Jan 22, 2024