KAMLOOPS THIS WEEK TUESDAY
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SEPTEMBER 30, 2014 | Volume 27 No. 116
BRONCOS BUSTED TODAY’S WEATHER Showers High 18 C Low 9 C
Junior football club loses as game called after melee
THOSE WERE E THE DAYS S
Sixty years after graduating, g, Kam High alumni meet in the e Tournament Capital al
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MAYOR: REPORT NOT WORTH DEBATING Kamloops This Week. Kamloops’ assistant director of finance Doug Stewart said he hasn’t examined the report in enough detail Debate over a report advising the to determine if the 38 per cent figure provincial government to reign in municipal wages is wasting time that would be accurate, but said the city’s wage policies mean its pay rates could be focused on more important are growing on pace with other B.C. issues, says Kamloops mayor Peter communities. Milobar. “We try to stay with the market,” According to a report prepared said Stewart, noting the city uses by Ernst and Young on behalf of a P-50 policy, setting wages in the the province, wages for unionized middle of the pack. municipal workers rose by 38 per “We would be the median rate of cent between 2001 and 2012, while our peers,” Stewart said. “That was wages for provincial employees rose the mandate council gave us and by 19 per cent. that’s where our rates have been set.” That finding is being challenged Between by may2001 and ors, 2012, the including I agreed to the wage city’s total Milobar, settlements we’ve signed over payroll who note grew from Ernst and the last 12 years, so I don’t $29.6 milYoung know how it would be a lion to catego$52.7 milrized BC surprise that I’m comfortable lion. Ferries with what we’re paying people. In that and same TransLink Kamloops Mayor Peter Milobar period, the employnumber of ees as city staff municipal grew by 34 per cent, from 533 to 714. workers in their calculations. “We’ve had a lot of increases in But, Milobar said, whether the services since 2001,” Stewart said. report is accurate or not, it’s not “We’ve built the water-treatment worth debating. plant, the Tournament Capital “I’d rather just receive the report Centre, Tournament Capital Ranch, and move on and get back to trying wastewater-treatment plant, Fire Hall to deal with real issues like mental No. 7 — and all of those have added health, addictions issues, things like on a few staff.” that, that us and the province need See MILOBAR, page A4 to be working on together,” he told ANDREA KLASSEN STAFF REPORTER andrea@kamloopsthisweek.com
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ALLEN DOUGLAS/KTW
A LIVING CANVAS
Krista Buck puts the finishing touches on a work of art that uses three-year-old Olivia Currie’s face as the canvas. The creative endeavour took place during the weekend’s Calico Critters Fun Day at Tumbleweed Toys.
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