Common Sense

If you head on over to the Hawthorne Villager site, you will see the results of my completely unofficial, unscientific poll regarding the salary increase for town staff and Milton Town Council.

As of today the results were…

Should Councillors be able to vote themselves a pay increase?

Yes…they deserve it for the hard work they do.  7%  [ 2 ] Yes…but it should be effective when the next council is elected.  33%  [ 9 ] On a case by case basis … maybe.  18%  [ 5 ] Nope…not at all.  40%  [ 11 ]

Total Votes : 27

Im really glad the discussion on the forum isnt “hang them all” or “they are all crooks” because that would take away from the real issue and thats common sense and accountability.

No one is denying the right for our elected officials to having a fair salary for the work they do.  Milton Town Council is a part time council, meaning that most of the individuals around the council table, with exception of the Regional Councillors and Mayor, are part time.

You can not compare their salaries to those in other municipalities such as Mississauga, Brampton or even Oakville or Burlington.  The population of each of those areas are not comparable to Milton, yet. 

Generally the work thats involved for a local town councillor is they have to attend council and committee meetings (3 meetings in 4 weeks…one full council meeting and two committee meetings).  Of course they have to look after the concerns and questions of the community.

Some attend training courses (which can be debated at another time) and other municipal events throughout the months.  Im sure there are a few more items of interest that they work on, and the door is open for any current councillor to post what they do on this blog. 

With that being said, its hardly a full time job.  Some treat it as such, but in the end they dont need to be full time.

As Ive talked about in many blogs in the past, is that municipal government and our elected officials need to be more transparent and accountable to the people who elect them.

The current system of pay evaluation is faulty.  Right now, along with many other municipalities, there is a citizens committee who meets and discusses how much the elected councillors should be paid.  These committees are picked from volunteers in the community and are reviewed on a regular basis.  From there, the committee comes up with a recomendation as to how much etc, and its brought before council.

As the Mayor and other councillors have said in the past, they dont have an issue with accepting the pay increase because it is not THEM who makes the decision as to the amount, but an impartial citizens committee.

Here’s where common sense should enter the discussion.

Here in Milton, manufacturing jobs are disappearing faster than snow in June.  Retailers in the downtown core and other parts of Milton are feeling the pinch.  In some areas, spending is the same or going up, but in other areas they are barely holding on.

You cant go a day without some economic report showing how fragile our economy really is.  Am I a “doomer and gloomer”?  Not a chance.  I think the Canadian economy is on the mend and improvements will be shortly following.  This should be taken into consideration when making decisions like pay increases and prioritizing spending.

Council passed a pay increase shortly after they were elected in 2006.  Here they are again, getting a further increase of 2.5% right when we have fellow Miltonians feeling the pinch of losing jobs or wage cutbacks and manufacturing plant closures.

With many reports showing that our economy is on the mend an option for this council would be to at the very least postpone the increase until the new council is elected.  The term of council is 4 years (up from 3 years until Dalton changed that) and the salary for that position should be frozen for the term of council.  Some argue that the increase is rather small, so if thats the case, put it off for one more year.

I, along with many others, ran for town council in 2006 and we knew then what the salary would be.  For a part time position, the salary is fair and some former councillors say its too fair. 

The salary should remain the same for the duration of the term.  If any pay increases are to be made, those increases should be made effective the date the new council is sworn in.

Just makes sense.  This way, the optics of politicians making and raising their salaries is improved.  They can focus their efforts on improving the infrastructure of the town, making sound financial decisions regarding our taxes and help make the Town of Milton better.

I dont know the legalities of the pay grids that town employees are classified under, but a seperate one should be made for elected officials therefore when town staff salary increases are improved, the optics of elected officials direclty impacting their pay is gone…and problem is solved.

Am I wrong here?  Doesnt that make common sense to you?