A Cochrane man who previously ran for council is requesting the CAO give back some of his 10 per cent raise to the community.
"I hope this letter provides you with perspective, and further forms a request for you to return a portion of your salary back to the community of Cochrane," reads Brandon Cruze's letter to town CAO Mike Derricott.
In a March 10 letter, the 2021 municipal election candidate asked Derricott to divvy up the raise he recently accepted and put it into community programming instead.
Derricott responded to Cruze in an email. He said he has "no comment," on the letter but was "happy to meet to address a number of concerns of mutual interest."
Derricott's annual salary increased from $185,478 to $204,230 as of Jan. 1, as part of a new salary grid in the 2022 budget.
The intent of the increase is to reflect wages with current upward job market trends.
Derricott's salary increase was Step 1 of the new grid, which has a total of six steps, maxing out at $240,916 in increments of approximately $7,000.
"This increase is widely felt to be inappropriate based on a number of key factors such as your length of service to the town and lack of performance-based reviews," Cruze's letter reads.
"The increase forms 10 per cent of your salary which many feel is too much, too soon."
Derricott joined the Town of Cochrane in January last year with 10 years of experience as a municipal CAO. His most recent posting was in Edson, Alta.
Cruze's letter suggests the compensation scale be reviewed to reflect a time where some members of the community are struggling just to make ends meet.
"Community organizations have expressed concern for their funding ... I feel there are several existing programs and initiatives who would benefit from you recognizing that the increase is too much," the letter reads. "And further paying it back to the community in an effort to help our programs remain strong with the proper funding would be appropriate."
Cochrane's three executive directors also received a raise in accordance with the new grid. Step 1 increases salaries $956 to $155,403. Steps 2-6 increase at about $5,000.
The town said the organization is committed to maintaining transparency of compensation to staff, management and council.
"In determining compensation rates, the town participates in a compensation survey that is distributed and administered through a shared compensation consultant," a statement from the Town of Cochrane reads.
"The town compares to 10 municipalities who are of similar size, provide similar service and are located near a metropolitan centre, including Leduc, Okotoks, Chestermere, Fort Saskatchewan and others. Based on the data gathered, the town sets our compensation at the 60th percentile within each pay level."
Information from its previous survey was applied to compensation rates set for 2022.
Results from the 2021 Public Sector Compensation Transparency Report will be posted to the human resources page on the Town of Cochrane's website the week of March 14.
