Used with permission – originally posted in CFJC Today HOW MUCH IS a municipal politician worth? A common answer among taxpayers is likely to be, less than they’re getting. It’s a serious question, though, and a challenging one. Councils have the unenviable job of deciding how much they should pay themselves. Unenviable, because while setting your own salary might seem like a dream come true, in politics it’s a deadly proposition. Councils are often justifiably criticized for the size of those pay raises, and they approach pay-raise time with trepidation. Revelstoke City Council Take Revelstoke, for example. The council there is desperately trying to keep from being hanged, drawn and quartered in the town square — if they have one — in a storm of public outrage over a pay increase. It’s a problem of their own making, beginning with a bizarre decision to increase the mayor’s pay 134 per cent and councillors’ pay 67 per cent....
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