councillor salary increases

Citizens Committee To Decide Council Salaries

Mike Cluett

From The Milton Canadian Champion.  I’ll post more details and my comments later.

Citizen-based compensation committee could be formed

Committee would make recommendation about town council members’ salaries

With the salaries of elected representatives being a sensitive topic for councillors and the public alike, the Town is hoping to de-politicize the issue with a citizen compensation advisory committee.Monday, the administration and planning committee approved the formation of the committee that will review councillors’ and the mayor’s salaries and recommend an increase, if warranted. Milton council will make the final decision on the committee Monday.

“I’ve been dealing with these kinds of things on and off and they’re never the easiest to deal with,” said Mayor Gord Krantz. “If you and I get one per cent, or half a per cent or a 50 per cent raise, you can turn it back in to the Town or take it and give it to your favourite charity,” he suggested, explaining council doesn’t have to accept a raise.

Krantz warned he wouldn’t want to see a councillor oppose a pay hike, and later accept it. “That’s when you become hypocritical and that has happened in the past.”

In July, council and non-unionized Town staff received a two per cent salary increase as part of their yearly wage adjustment.

The annual pay increases are to ensure Town staff and council salaries remain competitive and keep up with inflation. In 2010 council voted to freeze their salaries.

A council compensation review, undertaken every few years, ensures the salaries of Milton’s councillors and mayor are in line with those of comparable municipalities.

The last review in 2007 led to a hefty increase — the mayor’s salary increased from $49,133 to $60,480 and the rest of council saw an increase from $21,096 to $25,096.

Ward 6 Councillor Mike Cluett, who in the past has criticized council’s yearly raises, [ SEE MY PREVIOUS BLOG ENTRIES ON THE SUBJECT ]said it’s important Miltonians understand it’s residents, not councillors, who would determine how well council should be compensated through the review process.

“I don’t think there’s a prevailing feeling in the public that we’re overpaid…but I think we should take the citizens’ committee recommendation seriously, but remembering that it is an advisory committee and we can accept whatever the pay increase may be, we can take it back or we can try to defer it to a future date of council. That’s something we might want to consider.”

Ward 4 Councillor Rick Malboeuf said he would be pleased to see salary recommendations taken out of staff and council’s hands.  

“I’ve been through this process before and my advice is to stay as far away from this issue as possible,” he said to fellow councillors.

Currently, the mayor earns $65,128 a year and councillors earn $27,025. Krantz and regional councillors Colin Best and Tony Lambert also earn around $41,000 for sitting on Halton regional council.

The compensation committee would be made up of four members from the Municipal Election Compliance Audit Committee, and the president of the Milton Chamber of Commerce would chair the group.

Each member of the committee would receive $300 per meeting — a maximum of three meetings will take place totaling $4,500 — and they would be expected to make a recommendation to council in January.

The meetings would be open to the public, however, no delegations to the committee would be allowed.

Town staff surveyed council salaries in 11 other municipalities and the results would be presented to the committee. 

Councillors Pay Increase

Mike Cluett

I just wanted to preface this with a statement. I am in favour of paying our politicians well for the work they do. I have no qualms with the amount of the pay increase recently approved by the Milton town council. I do however, have a problem with the way its done.

A councillor should not be able to vote themselves a pay increase. They do vote on all budget matters but this current council should not benefit from this decision. When it comes to pay increases we should have these decisions made effective the date the NEXT council is elected.

There’s an old saying “politics is perception” and it rings true here. What are the citizens of this town to think after hearing taxes this year going up and now, very quickly and quietly, a pay increase for the people around the table. It doesn’t look right.

Greg Nelson was the only one to vote against the increase seeing it was his first time sitting around the council table and “had reservations about voting myself a pay raise on my first day on the job.”

Pay increases are fine. Paying politicians of all levels what they are worth is something that we need. The debate grows at each level to seek out what we should be paying our elected officials. My only problem is that when they vote to increase pay, it should be effective the next council.

I was a candidate for election this past November as all the others who sit around the table were. When we received our candidate information packages the salaries were posted. If anyone had a problem with the amount they were going to be paid, they could have made the decision not to run. Not that the salary be the only factor in a person putting their name forward for election, but it does make a difference.

They ran on the fact their salaries were going to be $ 21,000 and it should remain at that level until the next election. What the town needs to do is working in some sort of a cost of living increase at predetermined times, and it would take the issue of councillors voting themselves pay increases out of their hands and much more palatable to the taxpayers.

This is from the June 29Th Milton Canadian Champion

Councillors get hefty pay hikes – Melanie Hennessey
Published on Jun 29, 2007

Town council has approved giving its members some pretty hefty raises.

The decision was made Monday night after staff recommended the increases to make council’s remuneration in line with municipalities of comparable population and proximity to Milton.

This means effective Sunday, Mayor Gord Krantz’s annual income will go from $49,133 for the year to $60,480, while the rest of council will see an increase from $21,096 to $25,096.

Although there was no discussion among council members about the raise at Monday’s meeting, the Champion asked a few of its members what they think about the extra money.

Mayor Gord Krantz said his raise is a “reasonable amount,” pointing out that compared to the other municipalities on the list staff prepared, Milton’s new wages are still far from being the highest or lowest.

“I personally don’t have a problem with it,” he said. “And if you don’t (allocate for raises), sooner or later you’ve got to play a lot of catch up.”

Ward 3 Councillor Jan Mowbray had no qualms with the raise either, explaining she’s discovered being a councillor is an expensive proposition.

For example, she said she’s always buying tickets for community events.

She also highlighted the long hours she puts in as a politician. “It’s supposed to be a part-time job, but it’s a lot more,” she said.

Mowbray said she starts at 6 a.m. on her computer, responding to residents and researching information for them until noon. Then, she’s out many afternoons and evenings at events and meetings.

Ward 4 Councillor Paul Scherer also spoke out in favour of the raises.

“I think the salaries are fair now,” he said. “Looking at the comparison to other communities, we’re where we should be.”

He added that the comparison method is a good way to keep salaries on an even keel.
Scherer also said he thinks this type of raise should be dealt with before an election, not right after.

As the newest member of council, Ward 2 Councillor Greg Nelson did oppose the increase, since Monday’s meeting was his first after being elected in the June 14 byelection.

“I had reservations about voting myself a pay raise on my first day on the job,” he said.
“I couldn’t justify it for myself. I’m keenly aware that I have to earn every dime.”

The hikes will cost $25,673 for the remainder of this year and add $51,347 annually onto the operating budget hereafter.

Council also supported retaining the one-third tax-free allowance for the 2007-10 term of council, meaning one-third of council members’ income isn’t taxed.

Melanie Hennessey can be reached at mhennessey@miltoncanadianchampion.com.