We need to follow Richmond and New Westminster, and require city politicians to publicly report all board fees: Councillor Linda Annis
“The report showed that in 2024, Brenda Locke was paid $187,000 to be mayor, but she also collected $75,000 in board fees from organizations such as Metro Vancouver, with a further $30,000 in city expenses,” said Annis. “Richmond and New Westminster require mayor and councillors to publicly report all compensation, including fees for serving as board members on regional boards such as Metro Vancouver. I will be introducing a notice of motion to make the same information available here in Surrey. We already publicize salaries and expenses, so adding the extra compensation from regional boards should be part of that annual report. Taxpayers should not have to go digging for those details, they should be readily available and in one place.”Annis has also questioned the board compensation paid to mayors because their job is full-time, and with the extra board payments, many mayors, including Locke, make more than provincial cabinet ministers and the premier.“Board meetings for regional organizations are part of the job, and no mayor should make more than the premier of the province,” added Annis. “These board fees are an endless gravy train that needs to stop, and details about who is being paid should be readily available, which is not the case right now. If a taxpayer is interested in finding out, it means digging through documents from multiple organizations such as Metro Vancouver, the Municipal Financing Authority, and TransLink. Taxpayers should not have to be detectives to find out what their politicians are paid.”