At least two members of Surrey city council said they will vote against giving themselves an eight-per cent raise in the new year.
A report from the City of Surrey said the pay hike would bring council compensation that is in line with 12 similarly-sized cities across Canada.
If approved, Mayor Brenda Locke’s current salary would climb by more than $13,000 to nearly $185,000 a year.
Councillors would make $7,000 more, with their salary climbing to just over $94,000 a year.
“We need to be more responsible with taxpayers’ dollars,” Surrey city councillor Linda Annis told Global News.
“We need to make sure that the money’s going back into the community. We were elected. We knew how much money we were going to make as a councillor or as the mayor. So we went in it with open eyes and we need to stick to what we thought the compensation was going to be.”
The proposed pay hike was on the agenda to be voted on by council on Monday night but due to Locke’s absence, it was moved to Jan. 13.
© 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
