Two former Richmond councillors received lump sum payouts in 2019 after not being re-elected in the October 2018 municipal election.
Former Coun. Derek Dang received $110,205 and former Coun. Ken Johnston received $75,230, according to a city staff report listing 2019 council salaries. A note in the report states the lump sums were “due at the termination of service.”
The lump sum payments are based on their years of service and equivalent pension contributions, according to city spokesperson Clay Adams, as council members aren’t eligible to take part in the Municipal Pension Plan.
Johnston served on Richmond council from 1993 to 2001 and again from 2008 to 2018. He was MLA for Vancouver-Fraserview from 2001 to 2005.
Dang served on Richmond council from 1996 to 2018.
The city staff report also listed salaries for Richmond’s mayor and councillors. There was a $10,000 discrepancy in the salaries of those who didn’t take an extra salary adjustment in January 2019 to compensate for the loss of a federal tax exemption (previously, one-third of council members’ salaries were tax exempt).
Couns. Kelly Greene and Chak Au waived the pay increase in 2019, and therefore their base salary was $69,539 while other councillors received $79,037.
Mayor Malcolm Brodie received a base salary in 2019 of $174,314 with $27,990 in benefits; he also incurred $6,612 in expenses. The salary of the mayor of Vancouver was $174,258 in 2019 with an additional supplement of just over $3,000.
The total amount paid in salaries to Richmond council in 2019 was $787,614 with $33,694 in expenses.
Coun. Alexa Loo incurred the most in expenses, largely for seminars and conferences, totalling $6,970 while Coun. Bill McNulty had the least at $963.
