Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi is now the highest paid mayor in Canada, taking home $216,000 a year, with his councillors also making over $115,000 per year each.
The new salary is thanks to a 3.8 percent increase that comes as a result of living with a one year pay freeze in 2014.
Unionized city employees and union exempt workers will also be enjoying a raise of 3.2 percent this year.
Salary increases for mayor and council had been automatic for years and were based on a Statistics Canada report on Alberta Average Weekly Earnings.
However, during 2014’s budget talks, mayor and council agreed to skip the pay increase, which would have been around 4.6 percent. They made the move in an attempt to set an example for the city union contract negotiations.
While he is the highest paid mayor, Nenshi is also among the council members who choose to donate their raise or a large portion of their salary to charity rather than pocket the money.
Residents of Calgary find that Nenshi and his council are worth the money they are being paid. "I think he is a wicked awesome mayor," says Diane Stephen. "I think that they deserve it. I think that they work hard and they work a lot."
"I think he's done a great job. I think that people like him," says June Stephen, who questions the need for raises across council. "I think things are tougher now and I think we need to step back."
"The city is one of the greatest cities in Canada, if he keeps it up, he should be paid," says Andrew Bolek.
He adds the council pay raise leaves a bad taste in his mouth. "We're in fragile times, I don't think we should be giving just anybody pay raises at the moment."
When Nenshi first ran for the mayor's job in 2010, the job came with a $177,100 salary plus benefits and expenses.
Salaries have increased about 22.2 percent since then.
