Fewer city employees should have their salaries publicized; local politicians should be eligible for government pensions; and secondary suites should be allowed in duplexes.
Those were the three items on the City of Burnaby’s wishlist ahead of this year’s annual meeting of B.C. municipalities.
On Monday, Burnaby city council voted on whether to forward the resolutions to the Union of B.C. Municipalities (UBCM) convention in September. Once there, mayors and councillors from around the province will decide whether to endorse the ideas.
The first resolution would have asked the finance ministry to change legislation regulating so-called “sunshine lists.”
Currently, cities must list all employees paid more than $75,000 and all suppliers paid more than $25,000.
Inflation has risen “significantly” since those thresholds were set in 2002 making for longer lists every year, a city of Burnaby report says.
In 2017, 795 Burnaby employees made the list. (Burnaby has not yet released its statement of financial information for 2018).
“These increases place an undue reporting burden on local governments,” Burnaby staff wrote. “This pressure is felt by all local governments in British Columbia, particularly smaller municipalities with limited administrative capability.”
But the proposed request to raise the sunshine list threshold was pulled from the city’s list of resolutions following a motion from Coun. Colleen Jordan. Councillors Joe Keithley, Dan Johnston, James Wang and Paul McDonell supported Jordan’s motion.
The other two resolutions passed and will be forwarded to the UBCM.
The next proposed resolution would call on the province to allow local politicians to participate in the same pension program as municipal employees.
Mayors and councillors are currently exempt from the province’s municipal pension plan because they do not have a traditional contracts and employee/employer relationships with the city.
On election night last year, Coun. Nick Volkow decried the policy as unfair to outgoing mayor Derek Corrigan.
“Here’s the reality – (after) 31 years in public service, you shouldn’t be just walking out the door with a kick in the ass and ‘Thanks for coming’ – You are entitled to something,” he said.
Corrigan was, however, paid a retiring allowance of more than $10,000 a year as mayor. The cash-in-lieu benefit is meant to compensate for the lack of a pension plan, Burnaby’s deputy director of finance said.
The city report points out that both Ontario and Quebec allow local politicians to participate in provincial pension plans.
“Elected officials provide a significant service to their communities through the time and effort invested during the tenure of office, particularly for those who serve multiple terms,” Burnaby staff wrote.
The third proposed resolution would call on the province to revise the B.C. Building Code to allow for secondary suites in duplexes and townhomes.
City staff are currently studying how allowing secondary suites in Burnaby duplexes might work, but the provincial building code would have to change before they could be allowed.
The National Building Code already allows for such suites. Harmonizing the two codes would allow more rental housing to be created, the report says.
The city has until the end of June to submit any more proposed resolutions.
