From the Milton Canadian Champion
Kim Arnott, SPECIAL TO THE CHAMPION
Councillors to consider pay raise
A pay hike for local politicians is likely to be a hot topic of discussion at next week’s council meeting.
On Monday night, the Town’s administration and planning committee voted to recommend a 2 per cent pay raise for non-unionized staff employed by the Town.
However, the committee recommended that councillors not receive the same raise. Salaries for Milton’s non-unionized staff are reviewed annually, and compared to those paid in seven nearby municipalities. According to a staff report, non-unionized employees working for area municipalities have seen an average 2.39 per cent wage increase this year. The report recommended a 2 per cent increase for Milton staff, effective July 1. It also recommended that councillors receive the same raise.
Ward 2 Councillor Greg Nelson moved to eliminate the council increase, saying he was uncomfortable with voting himself a third pay raise for this term of council. Councillors and non-unionized staff received raises of 3 per cent in 2008 and 2.5 per cent in 2009. However, Town of Milton CAO Mario Belvedere said the aim of reviewing the salaries annually is to ensure they don’t fall behind as inflation and growth occur. “What you see before you is the policy we’ve been following for years,” he told the committee, noting that staff and council raises have been linked for about seven years.
Ward 4 Councillor Wendy Schau isn’t a member of the administration and planning committee, so she didn’t have a vote. However, she said she favours providing the pay raise to both staff and councillors. “I wouldn’t want a good candidate for council to be discouraged by an inadequate remuneration,” she said.
Local resident Mike Grimwood, the only delegation speaking to the matter, argued that Town staff should receive raises based on individual excellence and initiative, not simply as an across-the-board bonus “just for showing up.” Noting that 2 per cent is above the rate of inflation for the year, he said, “Milton taxpayers’ pocketbooks seem to be depleted on a regular basis for the sole reason that others are doing it. This is ludicrous.”
The provincial government recently imposed a two-year freeze on the salaries and benefits of all non-unionized employees in the Ontario public service, including school board, hospital and provincial government workers. That included extending the current salary freeze for MPPs from one year to three years. Regional politicians also voted to freeze their salaries for the year, at a meeting in December.
The pay increase would only be applied to employees not represented by bargaining groups. Raises of 2.5 to 3 per cent have already been approved for the Town’s unionized employees, including Milton firefighters. The cost of a 2 per cent increase for non-unionized staff was included in the approved 2010 budget.
The issue will be considered by the full council at a meeting Monday.