The mayor of Revelstoke says no services will be neglected in connection to a significant pay raise for council members.

Councillor Steven Cross resigned at Tuesday’s council meeting, after councillors voted to raise the mayor’s salary from $30,600 to $70,000, and to increase council salaries from $15,000 to $25,000.

Cross’s resignation will be effective as of Feb. 7. He says the raise amounts to 134 per cent for the mayor and 67 per cent for councillors, “in a budget year where the town has a $500,000 revenue hole to deal with and our roads are a mess is a choice of self-interest over mission of service to our community.”

In a public letter, Cross says the decision for the raise erodes the public trust in council’s decision making.

“I’m disappointed that councillor Cross has decided to resign,” mayor Gary Sulz tells NL News. “I did thank him for his service. But this now puts us in a situation where we’re going to have to do a by-election. And that’s going to cost us $20,000 to $30,000 dollars to do that.”

The idea for the pay raise was brought forward in November by councillor Cody Younker before being approved Tuesday.

Sulz says their salaries are now in line with other places.

“When (councillor Younker) put that motion on the table, he was comparing several communities. One in particular that comes to mind was Nelson. I think the mayor gets $75,000. It was comparable sized communities, not so much just (other) resort communities.”

The pay hike will be phased over three budgets, between now and 2022.

Revelstoke’s population is about 7,500 according to Stats Canada, but Sulz says the city has data from Telus that says the population is actually close to double that, at more than 14,500.

(Photo: City of Revelstoke)