Council remuneration increase renounced by Bekkering and Prokop

By Cal Braid
Taber Times
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

At the July 21 town council meeting, Mayor Prokop and Coun. Garth Bekkering took the high road when it came to what they viewed as an exorbitant increase to council remuneration.

 At the previous direction of council, the administration advertised for the 2025 council remuneration committee, which was seeking up to five public members. Advertisements in the Corn Husk Chronicles, the Taber Times, and at Town socials generated no public interest in the way of applications, so council was left to make the decision itself.

 The administration recommended that council set remuneration at $58,983 annually for the mayor, $37,876 annually for the deputy mayor, and $31,876 annually for each councillor. It recommended that council set the per diem rate be set at $282. The rates will become effective Nov. 1, 2025 and will be funded from operations.

 Administration recommended using the mean from the Alberta Municipalities’ Wage Survey, because the sample group ‘large towns’ closely aligns with Taber.

 Mayor Prokop said of the mayor’s 30.2 per cent increase, “I believe that’s on the high side – way high, (and) I realize that it’s been six years since any increase.”

 Finance Director Rob Osmond said the deputy mayor’s increase was 40.7 per cent and the councillors’ was 25.8 per cent.

 “That’s sky high,” Prokop said. “Even where it fits into the mix (provincially). We’ve done our due diligence to find those figures, and they’re very accurate, but that’s a lot.”

 As the voice of experience, Coun. Bekkering said, “The numbers don’t lie, there’s no doubt about that. Boy, oh boy, talk about shooting yourself in the foot in a sense. It’s never popular for council members, a mayor or a deputy mayor to reward increases to the following council. It’s never been popular and never will be, and it’s always too much.”

 He said he was speaking against the recommendation and motion, but not necessarily an increase. However, he thought the recommended numbers were “far too much.”

 “I don’t think I want to go through it by way of a friendly amendment, because it’s not that friendly,” Bekkering said.

 He suggested they restore the five per cent rollback council took in 2019 and increase the balance of the mayor, deputy mayor and council by eight per cent, “for a grand total of 13 per cent, which is not even half of what the motion indicates.”

 “I’ve also gotta agree,” Prokop said, acknowledging the six years without a raise. “I appreciate the work that’s gone into this, but who gets that kind of increase?”

 The mayor pointed out that Bekkering’s suggestion would likely be lower than the average rate of inflation over the same time period.

 Very little was said by any other councillor once the two men had commandeered the discussion. The original recommendation would have placed Town of Taber salaries in the fiftieth percentile range, while Bekkering and Prokop’s would leave them near the twentieth percentile, in comparison with other Alberta municipalities.

 Coun. McLean, who made the original motion supporting the administrative recommendation, withdrew it. Both the administration and council took a few moments to recalibrate. Osmond did some calculations and came back with the figures for a 13 per cent increase.

 The mayor’s remuneration value would land at $51,174, the deputy mayor’s at $30,413, and councillor’s at $28,623. Bekkering moved to set council salaries at those rates with council per diem rates set at $282, effective Nov. 1. Council approved the decision unanimously.