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Bain calls for councillor pay raise

The last formal review of remuneration was in 2000, when councillor pay increased to $16,000 from $9,000.
2015 10 20 Bain, mac lb

When veteran city councillor Mac Bain was a child, his mother ingrained in him the mantra "you get what you pay for". 

So when writing his motion calling for a pay raise around the City Council table, he channeled her wisdom and deduced that it should be about quality, not quantity, when it comes to North Bay’s politicians. 

Bain’s request, which he put forward at the end of a busy Monday night council meeting, calls for city investigation and public consultation to determine an acceptable pay raise for January 2016.  

“We all have real passion for the City of North Bay and I know that we want to see the city be great,” Bain said to his colleagues, “but for it to continue to be, we have to have great representation around the table and that’s why I’m bringing forward this motion - so we can increase the pay for councillors that are elected so that councils in the future will continue to have quality individuals that are going to be sitting around the table.”

The current councillors receive $19,065 annually, while the deputy mayor and mayor earn $20,969 and $59,574, respectively, all of which increase annually based on the consumer price index. 

The last formal review of remuneration was in 2000, when councillor pay increased to $16,000 from $9,000.

The motion also cites the lack of monetary compensation they receive for representing the city on the various agencies, boards and committees, an issue that Bain has brought up before. 

Ultimately though, Coun. Tanya Vrebosch successfully asked for the motion to be referred to committee after a couple of councillors questioned Bain’s concept. 

Two weeks ago, Bain also put forward the idea of reducing the number of city councillors to eight members from the current 10 in time for the 2018 municipal election. 

At the time, he said his motivation was to show council’s commitment to help reduce the impact on the annual budget with a minimal impact, estimating the city would be saving $50,000, helping combat the ongoing challenge of keeping the tax rate low.

But that motion, too, was referred to the committee level by Coun. George Maroosis, who seconded both of Bain’s motions to see them brought forward for further discussion. 

Bain also said the public scrutiny via social media platforms ups the ante when it comes to quality decision-making inside Council Chambers. He said he knows over a dozen individuals who didn't run for municipal election because their families didn’t want the scrutinized lifestyle associated with the position. 

“My colleagues around this table and those around the province constantly talk about the nature of the opinions struck on blogs and Facebook about what they do at councils,” said Bain. “Virtually anonymous people comment that we are not good at governing, that we are not worth what we are getting, and that they don’t value the job that we do.

“I have a real concern about the future of municipal politics in Ontario and North Bay with the impact of social media and on the way councillors vote,” he added. 

Bain’s most recent motion also vaguely states that other communities pay their councils at a greater rate and some even pay the politicians for their committee work. 

In an attempt to discourage his colleagues from getting too caught up in comparing North Bay’s council formation to other municipalities throughout the province two weeks ago, Bain said every case is different and studying them won’t garner any hard and fast rules for North Bay to adopt. 

But this week’s motion called for the city’s chief administrative officer, Jerry Knox, to prepare comparable information to be presented to council at the the end of November. 

When looking at Sudbury, which North Bay often compares itself to for other municipal issues, its base compensation for councillors was at $32,468 in 2011, while Sault Ste. Marie and Timmins paid their councillors $22,738 and $18,618, respectively, in the same year. 

While no vote was cast on Bain’s motion due to the amendment, councillors Jeff Serran and Mike Anthony were the most conspicuous in their contrasting perspective. 

“I do have a lot of difficulty seeing this when we hear about so many people losing jobs and businesses closing,” Serran said during the meeting. “But what bothers me the most is not that long ago we had the same councillor bring forward a motion to have it studied about saving money for the city by […] reducing councillors from 10 to eight. 

“We’ve got too many people right now in our city that have lost jobs […] who work very hard, and I can’t vote in favour of something that’s going to increase our salary, no matter how well intended this is,” he added. “To me it really conflicts with the study that we’ve asked to move forward.”

Anthony, on the other hand, said that while he agrees with Bain’s idea that councillors of today are in the cross hairs of public scrutiny a lot more, doesn’t equate that pressure to an increase their compensation. 

“I am worried that this would send the wrong message, I believe, to many of our citizens and businesses,” said Anthony. “I was ok with the idea of going from 10 councillors to eight, if that ends up being the case, but the main reason, for me, that I was in favour of that, was the savings. So I was troubled to then see those savings, perhaps, get eaten up.”

What do you think? Do North Bay City Councillors deserve a pay raise? 


Liam Berti

About the Author: Liam Berti

Liam Berti is a University of Ottawa journalism graduate who has since worked for BayToday as the City Council and North Bay Battalion reporter.
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