SUNDAY July 2, 1995

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French fry

Petitions question. 11% increase

NORTH VANCOUVER, City hall and

library workers want answers on coun-

cil’s plans to give council members ¢ raise equal to approximately four times the rate of inflation.

By lan Noble News Reporter |

And city Mayor Jack Loucks isn't happy with his probable raise and future salary: They're too high. . ) Library clerk and Canadian Union of Public

Employees (CUPE) Local 389 representative _ Shirley Cumberbatch said library union members don’t. know. why council members think they ., deserve such a large raise. “That's why we want an explanation.” she

nan effort to get that explanation, about 30 of the ‘union's 44 library workers signed a petition ‘earmarked for the mayor and councillors,

That petition comes on the heels ofa 1 18-sig- nature petition from city hall workers.

Both Cumberbatch and a CUPE worker al city

i

% hall,.who did notewant her name, used, quic! ly

: “noted the city cried poor when inion ‘member: ‘negotiated a contract, which was ratified in April

The city hall petition points out that council members received a 3.5% hike in 1994, while CUPE members received 0%.

Council’s 11%. proposition for 1995 is “par- tically hard to accept coming so soon after the

1.5% increase given to ‘employees within the City of North Vancouver ...

Concluded the petition: “Further, we feel that it would have been far more fitting for council to have awarded itself a similar 1.5% ine thereby demonstrated a sens

difficult economic times.”

Coun. Barbara Perrault, who supports the pay raise, defended the increase as 11% of a salary that is pretty modest.

“That. figure gets people's minds: going and it’s pretty unfair,” she said.

The aise works out to less than four cents per -

city taxpayer, Perrault said. She added she’s nota fan of the system, which forces councillors to set their own salaries. But she supports the raise for the position rather than the person in the position.

City clerk Bruce Hawkshaw said that a bylaw

calling for thel!% raise received tatroduction’

and first three readings ata council meeting June 26. Wis scheduled for fourth and final reading

July {0 or July-24, depending on when all mem-

bers ¢ can attend, said Hawkshaw.

case and’ Vity to the city® -employees and also the city taxpayers in these

Weather

Monday: Mainly cloudy, _ High 22°C, low 14°C,

NEWS photo Terry Peters

‘A’ LARGE crowd gathered to watch North Vancouver firefighters ‘deal. with a’ Renault. Fuego’s smoky demise Thursday afternoon. The incident at the corner of Windsor and Chesterfield did not result i in injuries but the hapless Renault was totally destroyed.

The city hall CUPE worker said the 11% deal has had an “enormous impact’ on morale, which wasn’t “particularly great” before. -

Councillors are currently paid $16,823 annu- ally. With’ the raise, their pay will’ jump «to. $18,712. That will put them in top spot in a sur- vey of five similar-sized Lower Mainland munic- ipalities.

‘Currently, city councillors are the second- highest paid in the survey.

By ‘comparison, councillors in, . West

- Vancouver District and North Vancouver District

are paid $17,000 and $19,810, respectively. West Vancouver. Mayor Mark Sager is paid $51,000 ~ annually; North Vancouver * District, Mayor Murray Dykeman is paid $59,430.

City council's. 11% raise is based on a com- plex formula that takes into account population, « . tax levies, assessed values and debt. It was used in 1991 through 1993. Last year it was abandoned in favor of un increase based on the Vancouver con- sumer price index because a formula-based increase would have resulted in a 7.9% hike.

“Meanwhile, Mayor Jack Loucks, who's, in — line for a healthy $5,668 hike. based on a wage equal to three times the wage of councillors, told the News he wili- vote against the increase because his raise will be too high.

At the June 26 council ‘meeting, Loucks said, he wanted a salary equal to 2.8 tinies a council-:

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