Richmond Mayor Received Over 300k in Compensation, Docs Reveal

(Image courtesy of malcolm.brodie on Instagram)

At a June 23 city council meeting, buried under more than 250 pages of mundane municipal records, were the documents listing the remuneration and benefits for Richmond’s City Council, including Mayor Malcolm Brodie. It revealed that Mayor Brodie received $379,974 in remuneration during the 2024 fiscal year. Richmond City Councillors did not receive close to half that much in compensation, and Brodie’s earnings are only behind that of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s.

City Board Memberships Boost Mayoral Pay

A majority of the $379,974 came from the Mayor’s annual salary of $207,510. The rest was a result of Brodie’s membership on the boards of Metro Vancouver, TransLink, and the Municipal Finance Authority, where he plays a leadership role on all three. He received $137,127 as a result of these activities. Brodie also received $35,337 in benefits such as life insurance, vehicle allowance, and dental care, among other disbursements. Brodie only had $17,652 in total expenses.

Mayor Brodie is not the only mayor receiving an exuberant income. Public disclosures in January 2025 revealed that most Lower Mainland mayors made comfortable salaries and stipends relative to the average worker. For instance, in 2023, Burnaby Mayor Mike Hurley received $393,075, Mayor George Harvie of Delta got $346,780, and Mayor Brad West of Port Coquitlam earned $342,512. These high figures resulted from their membership on city boards, combined with their mayoral salary.

A Get-Rich-Quick Scheme?

While being mayor is a job that presents massive burdens to the officeholder, the lofty benefits given to Metro Vancouver mayors call into question the ideal of public service. Are these mayors serving their respective communities, or do they needlessly enrich themselves at the expense of the taxpayer, hoping they won’t notice?