The Thompson-Nicola Regional District board members are in line for a pay hike this month.

Directors will vote on March 14 whether or not to boost their salaries.

Last month, some directors voted against deciding so soon to ratify a pay raise, including Kamloops Coun. Arjun Singh, who wanted more public discussion.

“Take it out to the people, let people in the region know this is happening, invite some input back. Start a committee, folks who are grassroots citizens who can kind of help us through this. It kind of gives it some more legitimacy I think,” Singh said while speaking on the Woodford Show.

The pay hike would be 19 per cent for rural directors and 11 per cent for municipal directors, whose salaries would go up to $23,700 and $14,400, respectively. Board chair Ken Gillis, meanwhile, would see an 18 per cent pay hike to $46,300, while vice-chair Bill Kershaw would see a 27 per cent pay increase to $28,200.

“Folks who are electoral area directors, those are the ones travelling from places like Blue River, 70 Mile House, places quite far away. And they have a lot of work to do, because they’re the only elected official in their whole area. So I don’t have any issue with people getting paid a reasonable, even a good stipend for that type of work,” Singh says.

Singh points out the feds recently got rid of legislation that previously didn’t charge taxes for one-third of income for local politicians, and he says with a raise TNRD directors will likely still be at a loss from that change.