The soon-to-be City of Beaumont has finalized its new budget, one that includes salary increases for the mayor and council.

The pay raises are not sitting well with one longtime resident. “It was sneaky, it was backdoor, it wasn’t being open and honest with the public,” said Fred Davis.

Originally, council approved increasing councillors salaries from $29,000 to $49,500.

But after hearing feedback from the community, the town confirmed councillors rolled back the increase to $40,000.

The mayor, whose current salary is $64,500, will jump to $100,000, plus benefits and the position will become full-time.

“They did a study and basically Beaumont was so far low compared to our comparing municipalities that they couldn’t see the top of the hole they were in. And so they brought it up to about two thirds of the way it should have been,” said Beaumont Mayor John Stewart.

According to former councilor Bruce LeCren, it was that study, given to the previous council, that lead to a salary increase for current elected officials in 2017.

 “And it was quite substantial. It took us to the 50th percentile, the average of the comparable municipalities so we would no longer be under paid. Would also assume that they would continue to receive the cost of living increases and so forth,” LeCren said.

“We also decided as a council not to look at remuneration again until the third year of this mandate which would be 2020,” he added.

“At that time the job was still designated as a part-time job so it’s rolling to full-time coming up in the future and so that’s the biggest justification,” said Stewart.

“And that’s interesting because during the election he promised he’d do it part-time,” said Davis.

LeCren agrees.  “Certainly the duties of the job have not doubled in two years,” he said.

With Beaumont becoming the 19th city in Alberta on Jan. 1, 2019, the mayor said there will be a lot of work ahead.

“We’re trying to attract investment and companies here that will keep that workforce in town and keep the local economy flowing,” Stewart said.

 “I see myself being able to be more effective and a stronger advocate for our town by not having to split my focus,” he added.

Still, Davis calls it an insult. “It’s just not right.” He wants the mayor and council’s salaries to fall more in line with other similar sized municipalities.

“Especially in these times. Especially when we have the layoffs and people trying to scrape by. It slaps these people in the face in my opinion,” Davis said.

Chestermere has a similar population to Beaumont. By comparison, officials there just approved a 2019 remuneration. The mayor will make $76,800, while councillors will get $34,800 per year.

“If you want to look at other municipalities like Banff, Leduc, Fort Saskatchewan, Spruce Grove, they’re all up in that 90 to 100 range. And that’s sort of where we came up with this number,” said Mayor Stewart.

“To hand yourself this raise by saying we’re going full-time particularly when you look at other similar size communities where salaries for a mayor are around $64,000, $65,000,our mayor is asking for $100,000 plus 30 per cent benefits. This tentatively, and I haven’t finished my research, but this tentatively puts him somewhere between number six and number eight highest paid mayor in the Province,” said Davis.

CTV asked the mayor if there were any discussions about rolling back his salary increase. He said “there has not.”

“People are generally upset but they have sort of a what can we do about it kind of attitude. The council voted for it, it’s part of the budget. You know the next election’s three years away which I guess is when you can ultimately take them to task for it,” said LeCren.

With files from Nicole Weisberg