Cabinet has approved a pay rise for Central Planning Authority members, with the CPA chair’s stipend for his board duties rising from $100 to $800 a month – a 700% increase.
The CPA stipend is among the lowest payments among statutory authorities. Some boards, such as at the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority, receive payments per meeting of thousands of dollars.
The approval for the increase was made public through the post-Cabinet summary for its 12 April session, which was released late last month.
The brief summary stated that CPA chair Ian Pairaudeau, deputy chair Handel Whittaker and all general members will receive an increased per-meeting stipend of $800, $600 and $400, respectively.
Previously, according to Director of Planning Haroon Pandohie, CPA members each received a $100 stipend per meeting with no difference in payments between the chair and the authority’s members.
Planning Minister Jay Ebanks, in response to queries from the Cayman Compass on the increase, said that the previous CPA board had recommended the stipend be increased.
Ebanks said the board “meets every two weeks with each meeting lasting around 6 to 8 hours. Some weeks documents can be in excess of 200 pages which board members would get familiarized with before coming to the meeting”.
Under the Planning Act, every member of the authority or board (not a government employee) is entitled to receive an allowance from the Treasury to attend a meeting.
Payments, according to the act, are paid quarterly.
CPA meetings are held bi-weekly, on Wednesdays at 10am, usually in the Government Administration Building.
So far, 13 CPA meetings have been held in 2022, with the next one scheduled for Wednesday, 11 May.
The board is also set to square off with the National Conservation Council in June in a judicial review case filed last year.
The legal action was brought by the council after the CPA ignored its directive and approved property developer Cayman Property Investments Ltd’s application to rebuild a cabana and seawall at the water’s edge on Boggy Sand Road.
Cabinet, also at its 12 April meeting, approved a $126,400 increase in appropriations for both 2022 and 2023 for the Department of Planning under Section 12 of the Public Management and Finance Act, (2020 Revision).
It did not specify the purpose of the increased funds.
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