Finance

"honorarium"

Monetary payment given to a person for services for which fees are not traditionally required. All honoraria payments are considered taxable income under the Income Tax Act of Canada.

"complex commercial board"

A board wherein decision-making and/or judgments require specific qualifications or technical expertise, decisions are made with limited precedent; and, decisions have a direct economic impact on residents of the Northwest Territories (including the setting of fees, rates, etc.) and consequences or results of decisions and/or judgments may have political, environmental or social impacts on Northwest Territories organizations and residents.

"regulatory or complex board"

A board wherein decision-making and/or judgments require specific qualifications or technical expertise; decisions are made with limited precedent; and consequences or results of decisions and/or judgments may have political, economic, environmental or social impacts on Northwest Territories organizations and residents.

Note: These boards often have operational management responsibilities or are regulatory in nature.

"advisory board"

A board wherein responsibility is to provide advice to GNWT departments; and, advice may have political, economic, environmental or social impacts on Northwest Territories organizations and residents; however, the responsible department ultimately does the decision making.

Note: All boards are assumed to be advisory only, unless specifically classified by the Executive Council as a regulatory/complex or a complex commercial board.

"excluded board"

For the purposes of honoraria rates, an excluded board denotes a board, where its enabling legislation specifically addresses the board's establishment and remuneration.

"preparation time"

The time required to prepare for or work on board business not including attending formal meetings. Preparation time includes major research, writing of a report, additional consultations, incidental meetings or travel time related to the business of the board.

"meeting"

An assembly of board members called for a specific intent. This includes teleconferences, videoconferences or other electronic means of communicating for the purpose of meeting.

"retainer"

The fee paid to retain the services of a board member on an as required basis for the term of the appointment as approved by the Minister or Financial Management Board, Executive or Legislative authority.

This policy applies to all members of boards, except members of an excluded board, or public service employees, unless they are serving in a private capacity on their own time or have been required to utilize civic leave without pay, vacation leave, or time off in lieu of overtime entitlements and are officially off-duty when attending board meetings.

In the event the employee inadvertently receives an honoraria payment for service to the Board while granted leave with pay, they are required to return the honoraria payment. Employees who engage in service on boards and volunteer activities must act within the constraints established in the Code of Conduct conflict of interest provisions.

The Executive Council shall classify all boards to one of the following categories based on financial and legal authority and on the scope of its activities:

1. Complex commercial;
2. Regulatory or complex; or,
3. Advisory

All boards shall be considered by the Executive Council to be advisory unless specifically classified by the Executive Council as a) regulatory or complex, b) complex commercial or, the board is excluded.

The Executive Council must approve the initial establishment of boards and subsequent changes to responsibility levels.

When responsibility levels and per diem rates are within these provisions, boards whose duration will not exceed six (6) months may be established without Executive Council approval. Temporary boards shall be treated under the advisory category unless their remuneration is specifically addressed under separate legislation or approved by Executive Council

Government Departments and Agencies are responsible for establishing the criteria for determining the levels of honoraria entitlements for their boards within the limits prescribed in Directives 4.8, 4.9 or 4.10. They must consider the following factors for setting the honorarium amount:

1. The daily payroll cost for equivalent work done by staff;
2. The normal daily hours of sitting per meeting (i.e., full day, half day, evening, etc.);
3. The level of accountability and key areas of impact and risk assessment in accordance with the GNWT Third Party Accountability Framework; and
4. The degree of autonomy.

An element of public service is implied in any appointment to a board. Therefore, any remuneration paid is not necessarily expected to fully compensate appointees for lost income from other endeavors.

The honorarium entitlement for boards classified by executive council shall be in accordance with the current Financial Management Board (FMB) approved rates posted on the FAM website.

Payment of honoraria shall only be made for actual attendance at meetings, hearings or for time spent on official board business that includes travel, preparation time, etc., as authorized on a case-by-case basis by a person with appropriate expenditure signing authority (e.g., Chairperson for regular Members and Minister for Chairperson).

Verification of attendance must accompany each request for honorarium payment whether the Government Department or the Agency makes payment. The board minutes are the usual proof of attendance.

Members of boards may refuse to accept an honorarium even if they are entitled to an honorarium under the terms and conditions establishing the board.

Government Departments and agencies must document the special conditions that justify the payment of a retainer unless payment is approved by Executive or Legislative authority.

A monthly retainer may not exceed fifty (50) per cent of the board member's normal daily honorarium rate without Ministerial approval.

Board members entitled to payment for preparation time or a retainer shall be entitled to receive only one or the other. Retainers must not be paid in lieu of preparation time.

Honoraria payments are subject to Federal and Territorial source deduction requirements in accordance with Federal and Territorial legislation. All honoraria payments must be processed through a payroll system approved by the Comptroller General in order to calculate and remit source deductions to the Canada Revenue Agency.

Preparation time should be paid only when it is considered as a significant component to the board's business. Each board member should accumulate it to such a point where it is at least a half day (i.e. 3.5 hours).

Payments of honoraria should not be made for the attendance at conferences or conventions unless approved by the Minister or Deputy Head.