After promising to be fiscally responsible during the 2020 municipal election, Swift Current Mayor Al Bridal fulfilled that commitment by cutting his pay — with city council following his lead.
“If I’m going to tell other people to be fiscally responsible, I’d better not pay lip service to it; I’d better show it,” the first-term mayor told the Moose Jaw Express. “I thought for myself, I wanted to show council (this could be done), and then council accepted my challenge and then they also accepted a very similar pay cut.”
During a December council meeting, Bridal and his six councillors agreed to eliminate all meeting fees, including $126 for gatherings under two hours and $194 for gatherings more than three hours. This would save $30,000 and $32,000 annually.
“I actually introduced that (motion) … and my intention was to give myself a haircut, but I didn’t want to give much (of a cut) to the councillors themselves,” said Bridal. However, one member suggested they review their pay even further, and after a discussion during a planning session, councillors accepted the elimination of meeting fees.
Those savings are roughly double what council discussed during a November council meeting after council agreed to be paid 38 per cent of what the mayor makes instead of the initial proposal of 42 per cent.
Each member will now receive a flat fee as part of his or her base salary. Bridal will make $81,000 per year — his predecessor made $90,000 in 2019 with meeting fees — while councillors will earn just over $31,000, compared to the base salary of $28,800 — excluding meeting fees — last year.
The cuts go into effect on Jan. 11.
Eliminating the meeting fees will also save Swift Current’s city administration time, he added, since the executive assistant won’t have to spend four to five hours every month reconciling the fees with the meetings.
Swift Current’s budget is roughly $63 million, and while a reduction of $30,000 isn’t much — it adds up to a 10-per-cent cut in council’s pay — this still shows residents that council is serious about being fiscally responsible and keeping taxes in line, the mayor said.
Bridal didn’t think the pay reduction was in response to the coronavirus pandemic but pointed out many municipal businesses are hurting financially and must still pay property taxes. It would be unrealistic to expect them to absorb another economic hit, so council is leading by example to help the community.
“I hope they see that we’re serious about keeping taxes in line (and) that we’re serious about the spending being done,” he said.
“In the past four years, there has been some spending that our citizens have considered frivolous … and I guess the idea is we just want to get across to our citizens that we’re serious about when we spend money to spend it in an appropriate manner.”
Bridal is a contractor in the building trades sector, and while the pandemic has put a damper on activity, he is optimistic about the future. He pointed out the oil and gas industry in southwest Saskatchewan is slowly returning, while the farming sector had a good quality crop last year and farmers earned decent paycheques.
Farming has a major effect on Swift Current, especially with the many agricultural dealers in town, the numerous grain elevators, and those residents who work in this sector, he added. The buildings industry is also seeing new ag-related construction projects coming forward that didn’t happen in 2020, which is encouraging.
