North Coast Review: Search results for Regional District SOFI

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Monday, June 25, 2018

Regional District's SOFI release highlighted by compensation increase for elected officials

Regional District officials reviewed their final Financial numbers for 2017 in mid June, receiving and making public a range of material related to District expenses, salary compensation and supplier purchases for the last year.

Among the reports received, the annual Statement of Financial Information was provided for review, and as was the case with the City of Prince Rupert SOFI release, the document makes note of the compensation for the elected officials who served on the North Coast Regional District in 2017.

Last year saw a total salary pay out of $162,086 to the fifteen members of the Board listed, an increase of 7,000 dollars from the 2016 total of $155, 475

Included on the list was Prince Rupert Mayor Lee Brain, who collected an additional 13,507 in compensation for his work with the Regional Body, claiming expenses of 1,185 dollars.

The Regional District compensation, combined with his Prince Rupert SOFI review of $61,300 in salary and expenses of $17,892 places Mr. Brain at the top of the salary listings for elected municipal or regional officials on the North Coast.

With Mr. Brain having received total compensation of 74,807 and claiming expenses of 19,077 for his public work as both Mayor of the City of Prince Rupert and Member of the Board for Regional District.

The combination of Remuneration, Taxable Benefits and Expenses for those duties totals $93,884.

Also on the list representing Prince Rupert were the late Nelson Kinney who collected 13,678 as a Director with Regional District, he claimed no expenses in 2017.

Councillor Barry Cunningham also represented Prince Rupert, he received 1,220 is salary and claimed 945 in expenses for his Regional District work in 2017.

As it is with elected officials at the municipal level, those officials with Regional District would also qualify for Revenue Canada's Tax Provision protocol for elected officials, where one third of an elected officials salary is deemed to be tax free.

That financial credit is about to come to an end at the end of this year, as Revenue Canada changes the way it provides such benefits at tax time.

While the Prince Rupert SOFI report listed the salary disclosure for 69 employees making more than 75,000 dollars, the Regional District SOFI report only features five members of the Regional District staff who were listed in the $75,000 plus level.

That group was led by Doug Chapman, who collected $145,118 and claimed 10,836 in expenses for his Chief Administrative Officer duties in 2017.

Fifteen suppliers were included in the list of those who provided supplies or services to the District over the total of 25,000 dollars in 2017.

The full report was delivered to Regional District members at their June 15th District meeting in Oona River. The full document can be reviewed from the Agenda Package of that meeting.

Regional District provided this short synopsis of their work from Ooona River earlier this month

For more notes related to Regional District see our archive page here.

To return to the most recent blog posting of the day, click here.

Wednesday, August 12, 2020

Regular Regional District Board meeting set for August 14th; District releases SOFI information for 2019

The Besner Block in Prince Rupert is the home for
the offices of North Coast Regional District

Members of Regional District will be gathering this Friday for their August Board meeting, a session scheduled for a 7 PM start that will be conducted primarily by teleconference.

Gaining some kind of indication as to what may be on their agenda however makes for a bit of a challenge these days; with the Regional District having stopped providing such information to their website as far back as in January

There have been no updates on District business added to the agenda page or the official minutes since January 26th.

Regional District has relayed some notes of interest on their work through the COVID pandemic period by ways of their News and Notices page, as well as their recenlty launched Social Media page.

One piece of business however has been published publicly, as part of a requirement of the Local Government Act.

That with a notice in the back pages of the weekly paper last week, advising as to the release of the Statement of Financial Information for North Coast Regional District.

That is the annual document that lists Regional District salaries and spending through to the end of December 2019.

Four members of Prince Rupert City Council are represented it the SOFI review, with their compensation for work on the Regional body in 2019 as follows:

Councillor Barry Cunningham

Remuneration -- $16,627 / Expenses -- $37

Mayor Lee Brain

Remuneration -- $15,346 / Expenses -- $73

Councillor Wade Neish

Remuneration -- $732 / Expenses -- $0

Councillor Gurvinder Randhawa

Remuneration -- $183 / Expenses -- $0

North Coast Regional District's declaration of Salaries for 2019
(click to enlarge)

The SOFI report provides background on the salaries of staff members, payments for services and goods and a compilation of the District's Financial Statement.

You can review the full SOFI documentation from Regional District here.

Residents of the District can also review the documents in person at the Regional District Office at 14-342 3rd Avenue West in Prince Rupert

For our past notes on the work of North Coast Regional District see our archive page.

So far the City of Prince Rupert has not released its Statement of Information for 2019, as the City's Financial Officer Corinne Bomben noted in June.

"The Statement of Financial Information which is commonly referred to as the SOFI, the deadline has been extended this year due to COVID to August 30th so we still have a couple of more months" -- CFO Corinne Bomben on the SOFI publication for the year ending December 2019

The Province has provided for an additional grace period for that documentation, with municipalities across the province expected to provide the information for the public by the end of August.

Thursday, June 22, 2017

Regional District duties provide compensation boost for quartet of Prince Rupert officials

The financial disclosures of June continue for the North Coast, with Regional District having released their Statement of Financial information for 2016 and with it, the list of compensation for those officials that have either been elected, or appointed to the regional government collective.

For Prince Rupert officials, it makes for a bit of a top up from the City of Prince Rupert pay listings and four Prince Rupert representatives shared in some of the Regional District earnings from 2016.

For Mayor Lee Brain, his Regional District duties through 2016 provided an additional 12,927 dollars to his income stream, a boost to the previously released Prince Rupert salary listing.

Mr. Brain also claimed expenses of $287 through his Regional District work in 2016.

As we outlined on the blog back in early June, the Mayor was listed in Prince Rupert's SOFI declarations as having received $61,318 in compensation from the City, while claiming $17,274 in expenses for the last year.

The Regional District bump moves the total combination of Remuneration, Taxable Benefits and Expenses for Mr. Brain through 2016 to the $91,806 mark, placing him at the top of the list when it comes to compensation levels for municipal or regional elected officials on the North Coast.

Councillor Kinney also sees a significant jump for his civic duties, with Regional District providing for an additional 13,000 dollars to go along with his City Council salary of 13,775 dollars.

However, when it comes to spending, Mr. Kinney remained rather parsimonious, having claimed no expenses through his work with Regional District.

For their part time efforts on behalf of Regional District last year, two other Prince Rupert councillors received modest compensation.

Councillor Blair Mirau received 171 dollars, with expenses claimed of 447 dollars.

While Councillor Cunningham received $346 for his work at the Regional body, with No expenses claimed in 2016.

Overall, Regional District Chair Barry Pages leads the Regional District payroll parade with a salary of $20,469 and expenses of $13,228 .

As it is with elected officials at the municipal level, those officials with Regional District would also qualify for Revenue Canada's tax provision protocol for elected officials, where one third of an elected officials salary is deemed to be tax free.

While Prince Rupert's SOFI listings provided for a review of 65 civic salaries for those making over $70,000 last year, only five employees of Regional District were listed in the remuneration tables, with all five making over $89,000 mark.

The full SOFI report for Regional District can be reviewed from the Agenda from the June 16th District meeting, the report starts at page nineteen of the documentation.

For more notes related to Regional District see our archive page here.

Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Items of Note from North Coast Regional District of 2018

Monday, June 27, 2022

Regional District releases Statement of Financial Information for 2021, Salaries, Supplier payments and Grant Funding among elements outlined

June has been a month of Financial Reporting for the municipal and regional bodies of government and the last of the reports from the North Coast has been released, with North Coast Regional District publishing their SOFI report to their website.

The Documents include the compensation review for the elected and appointed officials, as well as that for Regional District Staff along with the listings of suppliers and service payments.

The release of information also outlines the scope of Grant Funding for organizations and community groups on the North Coast and Haida Gwaii.

Towards compensation the total for 2021 came to just under 200,000 dollars for all thirteen representatives listed.

click to enlarge

The financial compensation makes for an additional bump in the take home pay for a number of officials including two from Prince Rupert city Council who serve on the Regional Board.

As as Director, Councillor Barry Cunningham earned 17,010 for his Regional District work with no expenses listed, while Mayor Lee Brain gained 16,441 for the year as a Director also with no expenses to report.

Councillor Wade Niesh also appears on the list though as an Alternate Director he seemingly was not called on for duty often, with compensation of just 190 dollars.

That tops up the income for all three City Council officials as declared from the Prince Rupert SOFI of a few weeks ago.

The combined totals look as follows:

Mayor Lee Brain $86,349 City of Prince Rupert Compensation, $16,441 Regional District Compensation - $102,790 total for both bodies of Government

Councillor Barry Cunningham City of Prince Rupert Compensation $21,472, $17,010 Regional District Compensation -
$38,482 for both bodies of Government

Councillor Wade Niesh City of Prince Rupert Compensation $21,472, $190 Regional District Compensation -

$21,662 total for both bodies of Government

Keeping the Regional District Machine running through 2021 came in at under 2 million dollars when all employees are added to the Directors remuneration charts.

click to enlarge

Suppliers of services and supplies came in at just over 2 million dollars from the list.

click to enlarge

The Distribution of Grants across Regional District included five based in Prince Rupert and Two Port Edward listed organizations.

Among those listed:

Prince Rupert Regional Archives -- $130,000
Lester Centre of the Arts -- $20,000
Museum of Northern BC -- $20,000
Prince Rupert Library -- $6,000
North Coast Transition Society -- $2,470

Port Edward Historical Society (North Pacific Cannery) -- $130,000
Port Edward Harbour Authority -- $735

The Dodge Cove Recreation Society received $2,575

The Full list of Grant recipients can be reviewed below

click to enlarge

The Financial Review also includes the listings of Debenture Debt towards a number of financing themes for projects and services.

click to enlarge

The complete Statement of Financial Information Report for Regional District can be reviewed here.

Notes on the City of Prince Rupert SOFI release are available here.

Our look at the District of Port Edward SOFI report is available here.

More items of interest on Regional District are available from our archive page

Monday, July 4, 2016

Regional District paydays put Mayor Lee Brain into the $100,000 club for 2015

The City of Prince Rupert was not the only local government body that was required to present its Statement of Financial Information last week, a process delivered to Council at a Special meeting called for last Wednesday at 5 PM.

Skeena-Queen Charlotte Regional District also has posted its Statement of Information for 2015 to its website the table of payment included in the Agenda package for their June 17th meeting..

Among the listings of the financial are the compensation levels for three members of Prince Rupert City Council who were the recipients of some salary top ups top ups to go along with their Prince Rupert pay packages.

Sixteen representatives serve as members of the Regional District, either as Elected officials or alternate members of the Board of Directors for the often overlooked level of government.

Skeena Queen Charlotee Regional District covers a vast part of the geography of the region stretching from the North Coast across to Haida Gwaii.

When it comes to compensation levels for their work SQCRD Chairman Barry Pages receives the highest remuneration at Regional District, with the SOFI report listing his Salary at $20,088 and expenses listed at $13,733

As for the Prince Rupert contingent that worked on Regional District files through 2015, three members are listed in the 2015 SOFI report.

Prince Rupert Councillor Nelson Kinney received remuneration of $14,484 for his work as member of the SQCRD regional Board, claiming $112 for his expenses with that body.

Councillor Blair Mirau as an alternate member of the Board received $170 in remuneration while his expenses were listed at $688

Mayor Lee Brain is listed as having received remuneration of $12,918, with expenses of 20 dollars in the last year.

That additional $12,000 propels the Mayor over the $100,000 dollar mark when you combine the amount of $96,000 in salary and expenses listed as part of the Prince Rupert SOFI and the financial disclosure from regional district.

Those are numbers that make the Prince Rupert Mayor far and away the highest compensated elected official on the municipal scene across the Northwest.

The jump in salary for Mr. Brain in 2015 came as City council voted to shift his position from that of a Part time one, to that of Full time status last year.

A look at the comparisons for some of the communities of the Northwest can be found below, all would also receive some form of compensation for their Regional District duties:

Kitimat
Statement of Financial Information
Mayor Phil Germouth
Municipal Salary $30,267.96 Expenses $15,134.35
Regional District (not posted yet)

Smithers
Statement of Financial Information
Mayor Taylor Bacharach
Municipal Salary $20,646 Expenses $9,953
Regional District (not posted yet)

Terrace's information is proving a little harder to find through its website, with no SOFI listed in the index of the city's website as of yet for that community.

However using some numbers forecast for 2015 found in the Terrace Standard from 2014, an estimate of Mayor Carole Leclerc's salary gives us an idea as to what her range may be. Terrace has in the past considered making the Mayor's position a full time one and it's a theme that frequently gains attention and some discussion in that community.

Like the City of Terrace website, the Kitimat-Stikine Regional District portal does not appear at this point to have provided a final document on SOFI.

Terrace
Statement of Information (not posted to website yet)
Mayor Carole Leclerc
Municipal Salary -- $34,500 (plus expense listings)
Regional District -- (not posted yet)

A little further down the highway finds the remuneration level found for the top job in Prince Rupert closing in on the salary levels of much larger communities around the province, a glimpse at some of those figures can be found below:

Prince George
Statement of Financial Information
Mayor Lyn Hall
Municipal Salary $99,502.50 Expenses $6,392

Kamloops
Statement of Financial Information
Mayor Peter Milobar
Municipal Salary $99,483.40 Expenses $5,401.10

Kelowna
Statement of Information
Mayor Colin Basran
Municipal Salary $93,971 Expenses $20,874

Nanaimo
Statement of Information
Mayor William McKay
Municipal Salary $95,097.56 Expenses $28,302.37

Victoria
Statement of Information
Mayor Lisa Helps
Municipal Salary $100,897.64 Expenses $7,841

Providing counsel to City Council is also a rewarding calling in Prince Rupert, with City Manager Mr. Long among the top earners among the unelected officials with the City and holding his own compared to those in similar positions across the province..

With the SOFI declaration from last week outlining his salary at $254,797 in remuneration/taxable benefits and $26,846 in expenses. Those levels match up well with the pay listed from 2015 for other top civic executives around the province.

Some of those on the list below, have since moved on to other positions in other communities.

Kitimat -- Warren Waycheshen CAO -- $177,713.86
Smithers -- Deborah Sargent CAO -- $128,184
Terrace -- Heather Avison CAO -- (listings not posted yet)
Prince George -- Kathleen Soltis $223,415.51
Kelowna -- Ron Mattiussi $285,413
Kamloops -- David Trawin CAO -- $266,395.90
Victoria -- Jason Johnson $235,072.10
Nanaimo -- Edward Swabey $240,716.24

Politicians and civic officials can compare their pay stubs in late September, when all will gather at the annual UBCM convention. Taking a look at the results from this years financial overview, it would appear that Prince Rupert probably can pick up the tab on the first round at the opening night social.

You can follow developments on the municipal scene from our Archive page found here.

Wednesday, June 19, 2019

Regional District to review Statement of Financial Reports at Port Edward meetings

North Coast Regional District will be taking the road to Port Edward this week as their monthly meetings take them to the North Pacific Cannery Historical Site.

The Regional body has scheduled three days of meetings at the historical site near the mouth of the Skeena River. set to take place from June 20 to 22.

Among the range of documentation that they will review over those three days, will be the annual delivery of the Statement of Financial Information, which as was the case with the City of Prince Rupert is a required report that must be delivered by the end of June each year.

As it has been in the past, this year's report highlights the remuneration and expenses for the list of nineteen Directors and Alternates for the Board.

Prince Rupert has two Directors with the Regional body, Mayor Lee Brain and Councillor Barry Cunningham, along with the late Nelson Kinney who was listed for a portion of 2018 as well.

The Regional District SOFI provides the following breakdown of their entries in the payments ledger:

Mayor Lee Brain
Remuneration $13,684
Expenses $4,348

Councillor Barry Cunningham
Remuneration $10,893
Expenses $1,059

Councillor Nelson Kinney
Remuneration $3,680
Expenses $167

For Mr Brain the Regional year end report brings his combined City/Regional Salary level for 2018 to $74,551 in remuneration and $33,481 in expenses for a total of $108,032.

Mr. Cunningham's combined totals for 2018 find his compensation increased to $24,324 with expenses of $1,780 for a total of $26,104.

The total remuneration total for Regional District Directors came to $162,109 with the collective accounting for $71,455 in expenses.

The full listing of remuneration and expenses for all of the Directors can be explored below.

When it comes to the report on those employees of Regional District that make over $75,000 dollars, the listings are somewhat slimmer than that which was offered by the City of Prince Rupert.

Only five names appear in the Regional District report in the over $75,000 ranks, making for a total of $496,318, with 33,1141 in expenses claimed.

Those employees making under $75,000 accounted for $609,861 in compensation, they had expenses of only $1, 131 combined.

Once approved, the SOFI report for Regional District will be posted on the Regional District Financial page here.

For more notes related to the City of Prince Rupert's SOFI reports of 2018 see our archive page here.

More items of interest related to the North Coast Regional District can be explored here.

Tuesday, July 13, 2021

Regional District releases draft report on Statement of Financial Information for 2020

The last of the Statement of Financial Information releases is now available online, this one provided by North Coast Regional District, which posted the Draft Report for the annual documentation earlier this month.

The listings include Salary and compensation details for the elected officials for Regional District.

Something which makes for additional income for Prince Rupert officials Mayor Lee Brain and Councillor Barry Cunningham along with the District of Port Edward Mayor Knut Bjorndal from the mainland side of the Regional District collective.

In total the Board of Directors of North Coast Regional District received $192,422 in compensation and claimed $24,060 in expenses.

The municipal SOFI reports were released in June:

Prince Rupert SOFI information

Port Edward SOFI

The financial review also includes the compensation for the five Regional District employees who make over 75,000 dollars per year, along with those employees working for Regional government and making below that mark.

As it was with the Municipal documents, the Regional District listings also include the Schedule of payments for Goods and Services, as well as the list of those organizations which received grants from the organization in 2020.

Close to 500,000 dollars in grant money was released in grant funding over the last year.

Two groups stand out with the largest share, with the Port Edward Historical Society through North Pacific Cannery having received 130,000 dollars along with the Prince Rupert Regional Archives which also received a similar amount.

The full document can be reviewed here.

Regional District will receive and consider the Draft reports at their upcoming Meeting set for this Friday at the Dodge Cove Community Hall.

More notes on Regional District can be examined here.

Wednesday, January 1, 2020

Items of Note from North Coast Regional District of 2020

Our archive of items on Municipal Government from Across the Northwest and on Haida Gwaii

North Coast Regional District website

2020

December

December 2 -- Regional District gets the jump on release of Holiday hour plans NCR

November

November 3 -- Regional District seeks applicants for BC Ferries Board position NCR

August

August 12 -- Regular Regional District Board meeting set for August 14th; District releases SOFI information for 2019 NCR

June

June 30 -- Regional District seeks your opinion on COVID recovery; launches new Social media presence through Facebook NCR

May

May 15 -- Prince Rupert's Kaien Road Recycling Depot returns to Regular Operations NCR

April

April 30 -- Stay away from our recycling bins the call from Port Edward NCR
April 27 -- Recycling by Reservation ... New Regional District Policy continues on North Coast NCR

February

February 18 -- Regional District's Recycling Advisory Committee seeking members NCR
February 5 -- North Coast Regional District to put Arts and Cultural funding plans to Alternative Approval Process NCR
February 4 -- Northern Development Initiative Trust's Internship Program application period now open NCR

January

January 23 -- North Coast Regional District set for two days of meetings, including Budget planning review NCR

Archive of items from 2019
Archive of items from 2018
Archive of items from 2017
Archive of items from 2016
Archive of items from 2015
Archive of items from 2014 .

To return to the most recent blog posting of the day, click here

Monday, August 24, 2020

City's SOFI Report outlines 2019 compensation and expense totals for Mayor and Council

City Council members will receive the 2019 SOFI report
at tonight's council session, the City was offered a
two month extension back in June towards
delivery of the financial document

An increase in salaries and benefits of just under 56,000 dollars and just over 4,000 dollars more in expenses from last year, makes for the bottom line notes for this years overview of Civic pay and expenses for the city's elected officials.

Prince Rupert City Council members will receive the annual Statement of Financial Information report at this evening's Council session, the document which normally is part of the June Budget information period relay has been released in August this year.

That delay was allowed after the province granted municipal governments an extra two months to put it all together owing to COVID.

The SOFI review for 2019 provides a look at the compensation for Mayor and Council, as well as their total expenses over the last year; in addition, the annual statement lists the salaries paid out by the City for those employees making 75,000 dollars or more.

The document also reviews spending on goods or services for the year ending December 2019.

The 2019 findings provide for a total salary, benefits and expenses level for the Mayor and six council members of $235,856; making for a significant increase from the report from last year which totalled just over $175,000

Mayor Lee Brain leads the salary listings for the elected officials, his remuneration and taxable benefits for civic duties listed at $76,336, Mr. Brain also recorded $17,978 in expenses in 2019.

When combined his Remuneration, Benefits and Expenses come to $94,314.

In addition to his Income derived from the City of Prince Rupert, Mr. Brain is also compensated for his work as part of Regional District.

As we noted earlier this month, those duties provided for an additional $15,346 in salary and expenses of $73 for the Mayor.

The Mayor's Totals from both SOFI reports come to $109,733

As we outlined earlier this month, Mr. Brain remains atop the compensation lists for all of the communities west of Prince George.

When it comes to the city's six Council members, all received $18,750, compensation the new level which was put in place as part of the 2019 Salary review which also returned Mayor Brain to full time status and full time pay.

Expenses and Regional District duties made for some differences in the final financial results for each individual council member in 2019.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Barry Cunningham (All Totals -- $41,071)

City of Prince Rupert remuneration $18,750 -- Expenses $ 5,657

Regional District remuneration $16,627 -- Expenses $37

Reid Skelton Morven (All Totals -- $26,637)

City of Prince Rupert remuneration $18,750 -- Expenses $7,887

Wade Neish (All Totals -- $23,787)

City of Prince Rupert remuneration $18,750 -- Expenses $4,305

Regional District remuneration $732 -- Expenses $0

Gurvinder Randhawa (All Totals -- $ 22,519)

City of Prince Rupert remuneration $18,750 -- Expenses $3,586

Regional District remuneration $183 -- Expenses 0

Nick Adey (All Totals -- $22,885)

City of Prince Rupert remuneration $18,750 -- Expenses $4,135

Blair Mirau (All Totals -- $22,222)

City of Prince Rupert remuneration $18,750 -- Expenses $3,472

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2019 was the first year that Council members could no longer make use of the former tax mechanism of the tax free benefit; a federal income tax provision which in years past had allowed for elected officials to claim one third of their salaries as tax free,

That change was one of a number of factors that were examined as part of last years salary review. The review from the Mayor's Blue Ribbon panel of 2019 included a look as to how Council members could address that revision to the tax policies from Revenue Canada.

As they have in the past, the City of Prince Rupert does not provide for an expanded or detailed review of the expenses incurred by elected civic officials, using the lump sum totals of the SOFI report towards their full disclosure.

Your first glimpse of the SOFI information for 2019 can be reviewed from the Agenda for the August 24th Regular Council session, the full compilation of notes for the session can be found starting on page 17.

The SOFI documentation will be received following tonight's City Council session which starts at 7PM, once received by Council the SOFI statement will be included as part of the complete package of financial information available on the City's Website.

You can also review the salary data for the last ten years from those archives.

The Salary and Expense review is just one of a number of elements from the SOFI report, as we work our way through the volume of information we'll provide for our overview of the city's notes below:

City of Prince Rupert SOFI report shows employee pay and benefits continue to rise

More items of note on the City's budget process can be reviewed here, while our archive of articles on past City Council Discussion themes can be found here.

Sunday, July 1, 2018

Blog Watching: Week ending July 1, 2018

The work of the Police in the city and some background related to an alleged assault on members of the Prince Rupert detachment generated the majority of interest over the week, as the RCMP released details of an incident from the early morning hours of June 23rd.

The end of the school year also provided for much of the focus for the last week of June, as classes came to an end and farewells for the summer and in some instance beyond the fall, were made across the city.

More financial notes from government also captured some attention this week, as we reviewed a range of material from the Statement of Financial Information from North Coast Regional District.

More medical services are on the way for the Terrace region, with the Province of British Columbia announced a decision to place their FOUNDRY program for youth with mental health concerns or addiction issues in the Skeena Valley City.

Our notes on a special gift for the Prime Minister as part of his recent trip to the North Coast also attracted a strong readership over the course of the week.

However it was a note on the dangers of police work that captured the top story of the week, as readers reviewed the notes from last weekend.

RCMP members assaulted in line of duty while responding to reports of downtown fight -- The Prince Rupert RCMP are seeking the assistance of residents who may have been in the downtown core in the early hours of June 23rd and who may have information related to incidents of alleged assault against members who responded to fight . (posted June 27, 2018)

That article was followed by:

62 years of combined memories take SD52's Kevin and Laila Leach to the south -- As the school year comes to an end, some familiar names to the community are bidding there farewells as Kevin and Laila Leach take up new duties in Princeton. They're departure is part of a number of changes ahead for SD52 over the summer. (posted June 29, 2018)

Regional District's SOFI release highlighted by compensation increase for elected officials -- The June reporting season continued with Financial notes release by North Coast Regional District, including the salary disclosures for District Board members. The Regional District information release follows a similar SOFI release by the City of Prince Rupert earlier in the month. (posted June 25 , 2018)

Province names Terrace as latest community to host Foundry Youth Centre program -- Terrace once again will be the central location for some additional health care services, with a program to assist Youth with mental health concerns or addictions issues set to be put in place in 2019. (posted June 26, 2018)

We're expecting a Book Report Mr. Prime Minister -- As he left Prince Rupert last week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had some reading material on hand for the flight back to Ottawa, with Councillor Barry Cunningham presenting him with a copy of Lonnie Wishart's photo essays on Prince Rupert and the North Coast. (posted June 25, 2018 )

You can find our weekly Blog watching feature posted every Sunday morning by 9AM, making for a handy way to catch up to the week that was, at a leisurely weekend pace.

You can also review the full listings of the week just past from our Blog Archive index page found on the right hand side of the page.

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You can find the link to that feature on the upper, right hand side of the blog. It can be found underneath the Follow the North Coast Review by Email indicator.

Our archive of weekly Blog Watching can be found here.

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Friday, June 8, 2018

City of Prince Rupert's SOFI report provides details on Council salaries in 2017

The 2017 Statement of Financial Information report
provides a snapshot of Council's salary and expenses from the last year

It's report season for the City of Prince Rupert, with a number of financial reviews set to be delivered to City Council at their Monday evening Council session.

For those looking to get a head start in examining the range of topics from those reports, the documents are now available for the public to review as part of the Agenda package for the Monday council session.

Among the volume of material to be delivered Monday is the annual review of the Salaries and Expenses for elected officials. That review provided as part of the annual Statement of Financial Information process, a requirement of the Financial Information Regulations, with the final numbers from the year previous delivered to the public during the month of June.

There aren't many changes to view when it comes to the City of Prince Rupert compensation packages for elected officials for the last year, with the remuneration and expenses for the Mayor and Council coming in at just over the $177,000 mark as of the final day of December, making for an ever so slight uptick from the year before

Mayor Lee Brain continues to lead the salary listings for elected officials, his remuneration and taxable benefits for civic duties listed at $61,300 a combination of the approved Mayor's salary, as well as an additional amount that was topped up by Council in 2015 through the Planning for Major Projects budget, a pay bump which made use of the Prince Rupert Legacy Fund.

The history of that pay raise goes back to May of that year, at that time Council decided that the Mayor's position required a full time salary, adding on to the base Mayoralty salary of the time of $40,762 dollars, and making use of funds through the major projects budget, it is those twin funding sources that bring this year's compensation to the $61,300 mark.

That top up comes to an end as of December 31st of this year, the fate of the status of a full time mayor and additional salary to be determined by the Council to be elected this October.

For 2017 Mr. Brain also claimed reported expenses of $17,892 on the year, marking a slight increase from his reported expenses of the year before.

The city's reporting process on expenses comes by way of a lump sum notation on expenses in the SOFI listings, to this point, there is no further breakdown provided when it comes to where that spending by civic officials took place.

Some municipal governments and the Provincial legislature make for a much more detailed report when it comes to the expenses claimed by public officials, an example of that scale of disclosure can be found from the Provincial legislature reporting process.

From the combination of Remuneration, Taxable Benefits and Expenses, the Mayors totals for 2016 are listed at $79,192.

The Mayor will also be adding to his year pay package through compensation to be delivered through his work with Regional District, that SOFI declaration will be released through that organization later this month.

Last year the Mayor's Regional District duties provided for an additional 12,927 dollars towards his income stream.

Councillor Kinney, who passed away earlier this year, as well as other council members who may have participated in regional district duties will also have received additional compensation for their work with North Coast Regional District.

As for the remainder of the Council collective, for 2017, City Councillors collected remuneration and taxable benefits of $13,431 each, which is down slightly from the base salary of the year prior, Council members are listed as having varying levels of expenses claimed through to the end of 2017.

For the third year in a row, Councillor Niesh submitted the largest of the expense claims on the year at $5,192, while Councillor Thorkelson was the most parsimonious of Council members reporting expense requirements to the $524 point through last year.

A commitment to municipal service has also offered up some benefits for elected officials at tax time in April as well. The Canada Revenue Agency guidelines note that one third of an elected officials salary is deemed as tax free.

However, this will be the last year that municipal politicians can take advantage of the tax benefit, as the Federal financial instrument is about to come to an end as of January 1st.

That after the Federal government recently removed that element of their tax regulations that allows for that portion of salary as a tax free benefit.

It is an issue that many City Council's across the province have addressed in recent months, with some voting to increase the salaries of council members to make up for the shortfall to come in 2019.

So far, the members of City council have not discussed that issue and how they may wish to approach it in any of their public sessions this year.

We explored that financial change for Council members with this item from April.

The 2017 SOFI report on salaries, benefits and expenses
for Prince Rupert City Council

The SOFI documentation for 2017 can be reviewed from the Agenda listings for the June 11th Regular Council session, those files are part of the package available on the city's website.

Once the report is received by Council, the financial reviews can be found on the City Hall archive page here, allowing for a year to year comparison.

The Review of Council compensation is one of a number of reports for Council, you can review the other notes on those below:

2017 SOFI Report shows civic payroll edging over the 14 million dollar mark
Partnerships and Solutions part of the focus for City of Prince Rupert's 2017 Annual Report

More items of note on the City's budget process can be reviewed here, while our archive of articles on City Council Discussions can be found here.

Note: the article has been amended to better reflect the level of expenses listed by the city report.

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