Democracy in Summerland came with a price.
At the June 5 municipal council meeting, the Statement of Financial Information for 2022 was presented.
This information is filed with the provincial Ministry of Municipal Affairs.
In 2022, the mayor and council members received a total of $141,052.10 in remuneration and $18,492.93 in expenses.
Toni Boot, who served as mayor for most of the year, received $33,718.73 in remuneration and claimed $6,817.55 in expenses.
Doug Holmes, a councillor and now Summerland’s mayor, received remuneration of $19,576.82 and claimed expenses of $258.04.
Coun. Richard Barkwill, Coun. Doug Patan, Coun. Erin Trainer and Coun. Marty Van Alphen, who each served as councillors throughout the year, each received $17,155.01 in remuneration. However, their expenses varied. Barkwill claimed $4,718.52, Trainer claimed $3,589.76 and Patan and Van Alphen each claimed $211.64 in expenses.
Erin Carlson, who served as a councillor until the new council was sworn in, received remuneration of $15,173.51 and claimed $2,685.78 in expenses.
Adrienne Betts and Janet Peake, who were elected as councillors in 2022, each received $1,981.50 in remuneration and claimed no expenses.
In addition to the cost of elected officials, the Statement of Financial Information also lists the remuneration and expenses for municipal staff. In 2022, remuneration for employees came to $8,680,344.42 and expenses were $91,526.91.
The highest-paid member of staff was Graham Statt, chief administrative officer for the municipality. His remuneration was $183,383.44 and he claimed $5,715.54 in expenses.
A total of 53 municipal employees received more than $75,000 in remuneration in 2022. This is an increase of eight when compared with the 2021 statistics.
