Less than 7 weeks after giving themselves an obscene pay raise, on the eve of municipal strikes, the government-controlled Legislative Assembly Management Committee (LAMC) reinterpreted the compensation committee's recommendation so as to give most MLAs a further 10% pay raise on top of their $98,000 base salaries!

Victoria Times Colonist columnist Les Leyne broke the story on Saturday July 21st about LAMC revising the housing and meals (capital city) allowance for MLAs, but he appeared to be confused over how big the cash grab is this time. Premier Campbell gave himself a 54% pay increase, and MLAs a 29% increase in their base pay when he had his caucus rubber stamp selected recommendations from his hand-picked compensation commission.

Unlike income assistance rates or the minimum wage, the pay for MLAs is now fully indexed to BC's cost of living, automatically increasing every April Fools Day, meaning their base pay will be over $100,000 by the 2009 election. On top of that and their gold plated pension plan, MLAs receive a big list of other benefits, but you can't find the list on any government or legislative website, or in any document available to the public. Recommendations 16, 17 and 18 of the compensation commission called for accessible information in the form of posting the Member's Handbook (which lists all the goodies) to the Legislative Assembly website, providing an annual list of payments to each MLA, and posting LAMC's minutes on the Assembly's website.

The compensation commission recommended that the $150 capital city allowance be eliminated and replaced with a meal allowance of $61 per day for each of the 75 sitting days (adjusted to be made tax free) and up to $19,000 per year to pay for the actual receipted costs of maintaining a residence in the capital region. In its recent meeting LAMC, which is controlled by the government, decided to reinterpret that recommendation and offer it or an alternative of $1,000 per month plus the meal allowance. The difference is the $1,000 per month is paid regardless of actual expenses, no receipts required, so the average MLA can pocket the difference of about $6,000 per year (tax free).

The current average capital city alowance cost for an MLA is about $10,000 per year, hence most wouldn't come close to the maximum (see p. 7 of the detailed payment schedules in the public accounts and subtract the former base salary of $76,100). By claiming $12,000 per year plus 75 times $61, an MLA could pocket $16,575 which is an increase of over $6,000. In their tax bracket, that is equivalent to a before tax pay raise of over $10,000. In other words, less than seven weeks after ramming their obscene pay raise through the Legislature, they gave themselves another 10% pay increase, this time in secret.