Spallumcheen council has voted itself a pay raise.
The move comes after council asked staff in the fall of 2015 to investigate pay scales in other communities.
“Council directed staff to provide a remuneration comparison to similar communities in B.C. based on population,” said township chief financial officer Amy Vienneau.
Mayor Janice Brown will see her pay raise from $19,369 to $24,811 while the six councillors see their remuneration go to $13,506 per year from $9,685.
“We’ve been working on this for a couple of years now at budget delibertion time,” said Brown. “We’ve been putting it off. But we’ve been doing a lot of hard work, we’re engaged in the community and this gives us parity with other communties.”
The 10 communities compared were Creston, Duncan, Fernie, Gibsons, Grand Forks, Hope, District of Kent (Fraser Valley), Oliver, Osoyoos and Peachland.
In the 10 communities, the average salary for mayor was $24,811 and the average for councillors was $13,506.
The average population size of the 10 municipalities is 4,911. Spallumcheen’s population is 5,185.
Armstrong was not included in the comparison report but Vienneau did add it in her submission to council.
Armstrong’s mayor receives a salary of $22,302 while councillors earn $12,820. Armstrong’s population is listed at 4,878.
The pay hike is retroactive to Jan. 1.