School trustee total compensation went up 5.43 per cent from 2020 to 2021, but some Richmond trustees don’t appreciate CUPE calling it a “raise.”
Rather, it was a “payroll leap year,” something that occurs “periodically,” according to the Richmond school district.
CUPE, the union that represents support workers in the Richmond School District, stated in a press release that Richmond trustees voted themselves a “raise.”
And, indeed, based on the annual Statement of Financial Information (SOFI) report, trustee total compensation went up 5.43 per cent from 2020 to 2021.
However, the school district explained trustees received an extra pay period in 2021, because it was a “payroll leap year” based on bi-weekly payments. This extra amount was $1,050 – without this extra pay, trustees’ annual increase was 1.6 per cent, according to the school district.
“Employers will periodically have an extra pay period for employees paid on a bi-weekly basis known as pay period leap years,” according to the school district staff.
At the public board meeting last week, Trustee Donna Sargent called some media reporting “inaccurate,” adding if the public wanted the “true facts,” they should contact the school district’s superintendent or secretary-treasurer.
“If I’ve gotten a raise, please let me know,” Sargent added.
In fact, the News didn’t report on these raises at the time, rather highlighted a $70,000 jump in the remuneration of district superintendent Scott Robinson, which was due to him getting monetary compensation for not taking vacation time during the pandemic.
In its press release, CUPE was also critical of management salary increases.
Trustee stipends are based on a school district policy and are supposed to increase according to the Vancouver Consumer Price Index, which hovered around two per cent over the past few years.
In 2018, however, when the federal government changed its legislation not allowing elected municipal politicians to deduct a third of their pay in their taxes, trustee stipends were raised to compensate for this lost tax deduction.
Trustee stipends rose from $23,575 in 2018 to $26,053 in 2019, which is almost a 15-per-cent increase.
CUPE's criticism came while the board of education was contemplating cutting some CUPE jobs because of a $3.9 million budget shortfall.
At last week’s meeting, the tension was palpable as the board deliberated how to balance the budget.
In the end, trustees voted to dip further into its reserves and save several jobs, including library technicians and career information advisers.
