Report outlines options to give Saskatoon councillors more resources

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Saskatoon city council members will have an opportunity to discuss options to potentially provide them with more support in their work.

A report from city staff going to next week’s meeting of council’s governance and priorities committee continues a discussion on city councillors’ pay and working conditions that began in 2022.

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At that time, Saskatoon’s municipal review commission recommended keeping council members’ pay steady. Council pay is set at 46 per cent of the mayor’s salary, which is pegged to that of a provincial cabinet minister. As of April 1, 2023, the mayor received just over $160,000; councillors were paid just under $74,000. A full breakdown of council members’ salary and benefits is published on the City of Saskatoon website.

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The commission did not weigh in on whether it was appropriate to continue considering councillors part-time workers, but advised having an outside human resources consultant assess what additional supports councillors might need to do their jobs.

The report from city staff heading to committee next week outlines three possible options.

The first would be to leave things as they are.

The city has two support staff dedicated to councillors, working out of an office at City Hall; each staffer provides administrative support for five councillors, plus some shared duties.

Each councillor also gets a $10,000 communications and constituency relations allowance, which can be used for things like newsletters or outreach events. Incumbents cannot use this money during the period of a municipal election.

While sitting city councillors may not wish to be perceived as complaining about their workloads, at least one former councillor has previously told the StarPhoenix that, on top of meetings and other activities, they were fielding as many as 100 emails and 20 phone calls a day from constituents while in office.

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A second option in next week’s report suggests some combination of bringing on more staff at the central council office and increasing the communications allowance as a way to help ease some of the administrative burdens councillors take on.

The third suggested option from city staff would be to create a “ward-based budget” that would supplement the existing two staffers at City Hall by setting aside money for each councillor’s ward office that could be used for things like office expenses, communications, travel and training or hiring assistants who could be brought on either full- or part-time with employment contracts tied to the councillor’s term in office.

Should the committee opt to pursue changes, these would be subject to further reporting from city staff before any final approval by city council. This could include hiring a human resources consultant to assess council members’ workloads.

Discussion of council member pay and working conditions comes as some residents consider running in the next civic election, set for Nov. 13. The vote is guaranteed to lead to at least a few new faces on council, as current Mayor Charlie Clark, Ward 3 Coun. David Kirton and Ward 8 Coun. Sarina Gersher have announced they will not seek new terms.

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