All but two new councillors voted for a substantial increase to the salaries of mayor and council, bringing the yearly amount to $110,000 for mayor and $32,000 for councilors.
In a report to council from management, the issue of upping council compensation was brought forward again due to the federal government removing the tax-exempt status of one-third of council remuneration.
The honorarium paid to the mayor was $93,605 and council members $27,700. The argument for the more-than-eight-per-cent increase for the mayor and council was that the money would cover the loss to councilors, so they weren’t actually taking home less pay.
“On Jan. 15, 2018, administration recommended that the (Citizens Review) Committee be reappointed to review council compensation in 2018 in light of the removal of the tax-exempt portion of remuneration and to set the council compensation for the next term of council. Coun. (Doug) Sulman moved, Coun. (Bob) Myers seconded and the motion carried 14 to 1,” the report from the Jan. 21 council meeting stated.
The idea of raises was voted down in 2016 by the previous council but they committed the new council to voting on the results of the review committee.
Voting against the increase were new councillors Amy Finn and John Wright. Finn said she couldn’t, in good conscience, vote for the increase because she didn’t run for council for the money.
In a video on social media, Mayor Darrin Canniff explained the reason for the increase, saying the over $97,000 added to the budget for council compensation, including what is referred to as the labour burden of such items as payroll taxes, benefits and pension, is going straight to the government in taxes and the increase was to ensure council wasn’t taking home less money.
An argument used by previous council and the review committee was that the increase was in line with increases in other municipalities of similar size and “the purpose of the honorarium is to attract diverse, competent and civically minded individuals to run for council.”
The pay increase takes effect from Dec. 1, 2018 to Nov. 14, 2022.
