If you are looking for a crystal-clear view of town expenditures on manpower, the newly introduced public sector compensation transparency bylaw is the wrong place to look. But if you want to see how much the top town officials are paid, it will be there for the viewing without names attached.

Town Council approved the new bylaw after it was amended by Councillor Morgan Nagel to exclude the names of those receiving the wages and leaving only their position in the town hierarchy.

Town positions exceeding $127,765 in compensation will be included. Listed will be the position, the compensation and the taxable benefits.

The list will be revised annually no later than Apr. 30. The Alberta government's Public Sector Compensation Transparency Act allows for an annual adjustment of the threshold to match increases in the cost of living.

The bylaw was inspired by a notice of motion by Councillor Alex Reed whose campaign included a plank of transparency that he continues to push early in his term.

Nagel provided a friendly amendment believing it unnecessary in such a small community where the recipients are obvious.

It received the unanimous support necessary to see it approved in one sitting of council, but only after Councillor Marni Fedeyko changed her view before voting.

She questioned the value it held to residents with the grid already available but was swayed by a position taken by Councillor Patrick Wilson that councillors' remuneration and expense accounts are made public.

Yet she still fears nothing of value will come out of disclosing the compensation.

"It's a small community and it doesn't take much for people to figure out who those 20 people are that are making those dollars.  Will they be targeted more? Will there be more demands put on them because of it? I don't know how we will benefit from this. It may get people more frustrated than feeling positive about it."

More communities, however, are adopting "sunshine lists" and several exclude the recipient's name and refer to specific positions.

Previous to this, the only member of administration required to have their salary openly posted was the chief administrative officer  (plus unnamed designated officer/s) as part of the town's audited financial statement. Town council compensation is also included.

If you want to see how much town employees are paid, you now can view the wage grids utilized by the town. It's broken into several categories, so to start your search go here.

The 2018 town budget for its workforce is $21.58 million.

Quarterly, the remuneration and expenses of councillors are updated on the town website. They are required to work within the specified budget.

Reed received support from council in January for the creation of the bylaws and explains it has become quite common for governments to make such lists available.

"This is not unusual," said Reed when introducing the idea. "The provinces of Ontario and B.C. have been doing it for over a decade."