Eby addresses Metro Vancouver mayors’ salaries, pay transparency

Local mayors who serve on various boards like the Metro Vancouver Regional District and TransLink are having their salaries called into question.

Some are earning hundreds of thousands of dollars per year, and in certain cases, more than B.C. Premier David Eby.

Eby addressed the lack of transparency during an unrelated news conference on Tuesday.

“It is disappointing to be disappointed yet again by Metro Vancouver,” he said.

Eby’s comments come after the regional district confirmed at the end of last year that a review into its spending was being done.

“I do have confidence in the independent governance review that’s underway at Metro Vancouver,” Eby added on Tuesday. “We’ll make sure that the scope includes all aspects of governance.”

Metro Vancouver has been under months of scrutiny, with questions over international trips, high salaries, and oversight repeatedly coming up since April of last year. The beleaguered municipal district has also faced heavy criticism over its handling of the North Shore Wastewater Treatment Plant. The estimated cost of that project ballooned to $3.86 billion last year.

Documents from the MVRD also showed Chief Administrative Officer Jerry Dobrovolny’s annual remuneration and benefits totalled $700,000 in 2023.

“I think when it comes to the residents of Metro Vancouver, just hearing story after story after story about problems at Metro, the review can’t come a moment too soon,” Eby said.

Metro Vancouver’s regional services portion of property tax bills went up by, on average, 9.9 per cent this year. In September last year, Mike Hurley, the chair of the Metro Vancouver Board of Directors, said the regional tax was initially expected to increase 14.1 per cent in 2025, but a Financial Plan Task Force was formed in 2023 to find ways to “ease the financial burden on households.”