Regional taxpayers paid a total of $3.3 million in salaries and expenses for the 13 municipal councils and the Capital Regional District in 2020, according to an analysis by Grumpy Taxpayer$.
At the time, there were 91 local mayors and councillors, 21 directors of the CRD and three electoral district directors, on the municipal taxpayer payroll. Their expenses were unusually low because of the pandemic.
“Small may be beautiful, but fragmented local government is very expensive,” says John Treleaven, chair of Grumpy Taxpayer$.
“You can’t help but wonder if one or two million dollars every year couldn’t be better spent on repairing roads or an aging infrastructure. Are we getting good value for a very large number of local politicians?”
Normally the $3.3 million total would be even higher: There was very little travel because of restrictions – the most recent figures available – so expenses only made up about $55,000 of that amount.
It cost $822,515 to pay salaries and expenses for the 24-member Capital Regional District board in 2020, the balance of $2.5 million paid for 13 neighbouring mayors and council.
In the Lower Mainland, it cost $1.19 million to operate just the Vancouver council and not including their regional government, $982,732 for Surrey, $863,679 for Burnaby, and $977,182 for Richmond. It cost $4.3 million to run the Toronto council with it’s population of 2.8 million.
For taxpayers it’s also worth noting:
The analysis uses 2020 council remuneration and expense figures and does not reflect any salary increases for 2021 and 2022.
The cost for local politicians continues to escalate. View Royal council has recently approved the addition of two more councillors to take effect in 2023. There will be a one-time cost of $50,000 to modify council chambers and an annual cost for the councillors of $44,000.
The analysis tabulates municipal salaries and expenses only and does not include associated capital, operating or support services costs to run a hodgepodge of 13 neighbouring councils and the CRD.