After reading about the spending and debt problem in the Town of Olds, I thought it might be interesting to compare average chief administrative officer (CAO), mayor and councillor salaries including benefits with other rural towns and a city.
I used Westlock, Taber, Innisfail and High River and included the City of Lacombe for comparison taking all figures from audited financial statements from 2019 and 2020.
The average salary of mayors in these municipalities was $54,919.20. Councillors received an average of $29,456.20. The CAOs received an average salary of $211,327.40.
Some of these municipalities are larger than Olds and their mayor, councillors and CAO are paid much less than Olds' mayor, councillors and CAO.
The Town of Olds mayor was paid $69,163 in 2020. Five councillors were paid an average of $45,851.80 in 2020. The CAO was paid $272,758 in 2020. This is a significant difference in salaries.
Why is Olds' mayor, councillors and CAO privy to these exorbitant salaries from taxpayers, when clearly other rural municipalities' executives are paid much less for the same position.
Could this be part of the spending and debt problem in Olds?
Vern Marks,
Olds