NEWS PENTICTON WESTERN
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Penticton BMX Club responds to Friends of Munson Mountain
VOL. 49 ISSUE 34
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Sneak peak at Cirque du Soleil Varekai
WEDNESDAY, April 29, 2015
entertainment Living Legends celebrates trio of cultures
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sports Tyson Jost and Connor Chartier produce for Vees in WCC
PAY RAISE CONCERNS
NEWS PENTICTON WESTERN
Steve Kidd
Western News Staff
TERRIERS BITE VEES — Penticton Vees forward Patrick Newell does a loop past Portage Terriers goalie Zac Robidoux during first period action of the Western Canada Cup in Fort McMurray on Tuesday afternoon. The Vees lost their first game of the tournament to the Terriers 3-2. For more Vees coverage see Page 15.
Western Canada Cup photo
The Okanagan Skaha School District is cutting more than a million dollars from this year’s budget, but the item that is causing the most controversy is a raise for Superintendent Wendy Hyer. School board chair Linda van Alphen confirmed the budget that was introduced to the public on April 23 includes a $17,000 raise for Hyer, who is currently paid a $135,000 salary. Van Alphen said a province-wide wage freeze continues for principals, vice principals and other administrative personnel, but that freeze was lifted in 2012 for school district superintendents. Hyer opted not to take a raise in 2013 and 2014, according to van Alphen, but the school board began considering it for the 2015 budget, when they thought the freeze was being lifted completely. “When (the wage freeze) comes off, people are going to try to get to the same level as people in Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan,” said van Alphen. “We are the second lowest (for salaries) in Canada for our administrators in the education system for the same jobs.” Hyer said there are issues that will affect any public sector that finds itself with a management wage freeze. Compression, where different levels of responsibility have similar wages, and inversion, where an employee makes more than their manager. “It makes it difficult to attract people to those positions and it also
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Anytime you talk about salaries for administrators ... I think the public is not very sympathetic to any of those folks getting a pay increase, whether it is appropriate or inappropriate — Wendy Hyer
makes it difficult to retain people to this position. We’ve seen people leaving our sector to take up executive or administrative positions in other sectors,” said Hyer. “It creates a situation where at some point you need to address those compensation or inversion issues if you want to attract and retain good people.” Hyer said she isn’t surprised by the controversy over her raise. “Anytime you talk about salaries for administrators who make more than $100,000, I think the public is not very sympathetic to any of those folks getting a pay increase, whether it is appropriate or inappropriate,” said Hyer. See WAGES on PG.3
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