here’s what metro vancouver mayors and councillors really get paid
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some metro vancouver mayors and councillors were able to earn tens of thousands of dollars on top of their official municipal salaries in 2024, according to a postmedia news analysis.
they did so by serving as board members of local and federal organizations, including metro, translink and the municipal finance authority, among others. outside board payments added at least $1.7 million to city council salaries in 2024 — nearly 12 per cent of the total.
to gather the data, postmedia scoured websites and emailed staff at nearly two dozen local and federal agencies, as well as the municipalities themselves. while technically public, the data wasn’t always easy to come by. it took postmedia more than a week to collect.
for new westminster coun. daniel fontaine, the lack of transparency is a concern. new west, along with richmond, recently passed legislation requiring city councillors to publicly report all compensation, including fees for serving as board members. they’re the first municipalities in the province to require such reporting.
“it’s not that difficult if you put your mind to it,” fontaine said. “look at members of parliament, members of the legislative assembly. with one click you can find out exactly how much they are remunerated in any given year. that is completely unavailable at the municipal level. i think it’s an oversight.”
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fontaine thinks the b.c. government should introduce legislation mandating similar reporting provincewide.
on wednesday, metro held the first meeting of its governance committee, formed to implement recommendations from a deloitte canada report that reviewed the regional authority’s management. during the meeting, the subject of remuneration came up repeatedly, with coun. lisa muri of the district of north vancouver calling it the “elephant in the room.”
several directors expressed frustration over public complaints about compensation paid to mayors or councillors serving on boards at multiple organizations. they noted metro already eliminated double meeting fees and made other pay changes recommended during the review. they stressed that the regional authority has no influence over who sits on boards at other agencies, like translink, or how much they’re paid.
board chairwoman and vancouver coun. lisa dominato suggested the board could consider asking the province to pass legislation mandating municipal council members publish comprehensive pay information each year.
in 2024, eight metro mayors earned more than b.c. premier david eby, who earned $227,000. mlas in b.c. have a base salary of $119,532.72, with top-ups for additional responsibilities.
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in contrast, the best-paid council member in 2024 in metro was richmond mayor malcolm brodie, who earned a total of $380,000.
in addition to a $243,000 salary from the city of richmond, brodie earned $51,000 from metro, $58,000 from translink and $28,000 from the municipal financial authority of b.c. (mfa), which provides low-cost financing to b.c. municipalities.
the second-highest paid was burnaby mayor mike hurley. he earned at least $358,000 in 2024, including $73,000 from metro, $48,000 from translink and $1,000 from the mfa — on top of his $235,000 salary.
he is the current chairman of metro’s board of directors.
last march, burnaby coun. richard lee proposed creating and making public an annual financial report that would detail all payments received by burnaby council members, similar to what recently passed in new west and richmond. no other council member supported the motion.
at the time, hurley told burnaby now that lee’s proposal was “a waste of staff’s time.”
lee disagreed, citing the value of transparency and accountability.
“if the staff can contribute a few hours getting the data and put it on the website then i think the public will be well-served,” lee told postmedia.
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he supported an idea presented in the report of capping either total compensation or the number of boards councillors could sit on. he said it was important for the public to see that councillors “have enough time to digest the materials for meetings,” saying sometimes directors are given “whole binders” to read.
“the mayor is a full-time job, sometimes more than that,” he said. “so in addition to that, if you assume duties in translink and metro vancouver and other boards than i think there are some concerns.
“can the person handle that?”
lee said he would likely wait and see if the province would implement a provincewide program before resubmitting his original motion.
staff at hurley’s office said the mayor was out of the country and didn’t know if he was responding to media requests.
other council members who took home some of the highest outside compensation in 2024 included port coquitlam mayor brad west, who earned $106,000 on top of his $194,000 city salary; city of north vancouver mayor linda buchanan, who earned $83,000 above her $177,000 salary; and surrey mayor brenda locke, who earned $76,000 on top of her $187,000 city pay.
the median (middle) pay of a council member in metro in 2024 was $78,000, though that ranged from a low of $17,000 in belcarra to a high of $145,000 in vancouver.
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