FILE PHOTO - Kamloops mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson at a March 28, 2023 council meeting.

(LEVI LANDRY / iNFOnews.ca)

Kamloops Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson pitched the idea that council to cut their own salaries and those of city managers this week.

In response to his own actions, the mayor has already faced his own salary cuts thanks to the rest of council. Now, he suggests others voluntarily do the same.

He tabled the idea on April 8, but it came too late for it to be included in changes to the 2025 budget.

"Maybe we should all look at taking a pay cut," the mayor said. "I don't know if we looked in the budget at all about our staffing, the directors and senior staff members."

Hamer-Jackson was told council had already voted on the 2025 tax increases in the same meeting just hours earlier. He has one more chance, but it's unlikely the next meeting and final vote will see any changes after councillors already added an extra day to debate further budget cuts on April 1.

"Mr. Hamer-Jackson if you showed up to the special meeting, you could have addressed all of council and staff with what you've got written down there today and all of your ideas on how we, as council, are going to save taxpayers of Kamloops money," Coun. Kelly Hall said.

The mayor said he missed the meeting for "personal reasons."

City council decided to reduce the budget by more than $2 million, cutting a roughly 9% tax hike to around 7.4%.

Whether the mayor had any specific amounts in mind or the people that should see salary cuts isn't clear.

The mayor himself has had his own annual salary of $130,000 cut in half.

Councillors, meanwhile, earned around $47,000 after benefits in 2023, bringing the combined elected official remuneration to around $500,000.

According to City financial records, 111 non-union management staff were paid a combined $13.5 million that year. That's an average of around $121,000 after benefits.

Two years earlier, 96 management staff on the City's Statement of Financial Information earned $11.3 million and averaged around $117,000 per year.

The city's budget will be finalized in the coming weeks. Though last-minute changes aren't expected, as the provincial deadline is just another month away, Hamer-Jackson could bring the suggestion up once more before it's formally adopted.

Councillors are unlikely to entertain it and the mayor said, "we'll look at it another year."

"When we're in budget deliberations for 2026 would be the time and place," Coun. Margot Middleton said.

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