Your Voice: Offering to work as a councillor for free might sound noble, but it's more complicated than that

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Dear Editor,

We are writing in response to the recent letter from a self-declared candidate for Kelowna City Council campaigning on the idea that accepting a salary to serve on city council is somehow unjust, or that working for free is inherently virtuous. While we appreciate his sentiment of selfless service to the community and consider his heart to be in the right place, it’s important to consider the practical reality and consequences.

The idea of serving on a City Council without compensation might sound noble, but will change the face of who runs for City Council. The ultimate result would likely be an amplified version of what we see on council today – a table overwhelmingly dominated by retirees and upper middle class professionals. It could increase the risk of leaving the institution vulnerable to political graft for the benefit of private interests. Suggesting that someone should treat Council as an unpaid full-time job could create an expectation that only the independently wealthy ought to be on Council. We should be mindful, in this era of high inflation and high costs, of how that would affect our family budgets and the financial priorities of City Hall.

Furthermore, directly implying that even middle class candidates are greedy by not stepping up to serve for free, that we are not motivated by “an honour in itself, rather … motivated by money” is just plain wrong. It’s not “a reflection of personal values,” it’s a reflection of paying a mortgage or rent cheque and maintaining a positive bank balance. It's not about being greedy; it's about being able to support oneself, pay bills and raise kids, while dedicating time and effort to public service. If we actually expect Council to pay attention and do their best while representing us all in a $1 billion+ annual enterprise, can we expect them to do it for free? Does any successful corporation run that way? Of course not.

We agree that the public has a right to be concerned with how the Council majority has handled their salary increase. It is the opinion of the co-signed authors that Council could have, perhaps should have, taken one of the public suggestions that City Hall delay the pay increase, so that it only raises the salary of the next city council. This avoids the optics and reality of voting for your own raise, while taking steps to open up the Council table to more voices from various socioeconomic backgrounds.

It is important to recognize that the cost of management comes at a five-figure salary per councillor. For comparison all eight councillors and the mayor on Kelowna City Council combined now earn about the same as the top two staff.

The cost of bad management can amount to tens or hundreds of millions of dollars in poor financial decisions at the board level. It is important to not miss the forest for the trees. Careful council management, as a board of directors, of capital projects, operating expenses, and community planning is critical, not the effective rounding error of strong corporate governance.

In conclusion, while the idea of volunteering for Council is nice in theory, we need to be realistic about the demands of the job and the impact it has on employment for working people. We should expect good management from our elected officials. As the old saying goes, you get what you pay for.

Sincerely,

Davis Kyle

Peter Truch

Amarit Brar

2022 Councillor Candidates