Increased council pay could be on the way

The city believes its mayor, deputy mayor and city councillors deserve a slight pay raise. 

But others think they deserve more. 

Tasked with presenting an in-depth report and comparable councillor compensation data from other municipalities on Monday night, city staff relayed their findings to the General Government Committee, recommending a $2,000 pay raise for councillors and a $4,600 increase for the Mayor. 

But in an extra push led by veteran councillor Mac Bain, the General Government Committee unanimously decided to further increase the recommended compensation around the table, after looking at what 22 other municipalities in the province garner. 

The final committee recommendation calls for the 2016 salaries to be $65,157 for the Mayor, $26,956 for the Deputy Mayor and $23,691 for councillors, plus a payment in lieu of benefits at an eight per cent rate of their annual pay. 

Councillors currently receive $19,065 annually, while the deputy mayor and mayor earn $20,970 and $59,574, respectively. 

The new numbers were determined by taking the average salaries of 22 comparable communities, which included the usual Northern Ontario neighbours as well as others like Niagara Falls, Cambridge, Organgeville and Sarnia, based on population size, number of households and tax levy total. 

City staff originally identified six municipalities from around the province that they felt more accurately fit their comparable criteria for the recommendation. 

But as Coun. Bain pointed out, the average councillor compensation from that data set was the lowest of seven options included in the report at $20,868. 

“Most interestingly enough, recommendation number six was the lowest, and the multi-criteria found communities that were the most-like us,” said Bain. “When you looked at the medium comparison, that would get us just a little bit more than we’re making now.”

While the city statistics showed that North Bay’s politicians are paid similarly to a town like Timmins, for example, Coun. Derek Shogren said he and his colleagues actually rank amongst the lowest of any sample size when taking total salary, expenses, benefits, car allowance, internet, phone, office supplies, and all other forms of compensation into consideration. 

He drew attention to Timmins’ politicians, whom he said receive a $1,500 car allowance, health benefits, and can make between $2,000-$5,000 for sitting on the various boards, as well as Orillia, whose councillors are paid close to $37,000 as a base.

Another one of the major catalysts for council’s consideration is the general consensus around the table that the demand on a modern-day city councillor is too high, due in large part to their representation on the various agencies, boards and committees. 

Some of those bigger boards, such as District of Nipissing Social Services Administration Board, North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit, Police Services Board and Cassellholme, are funded via a municipal and provincial-subsidy formula, but the councillors don’t get compensated for their attendance. 

The table representing the other municipalities surveyed in the city report

Some have suggested that the unclaimed cash go back to the city as a source of revenue, but the councillors cannot be paid or pay the money back to the city in accordance with a 2003 resolution, leaving the money unclaimed and in limbo.

However, Monday’s recommendation moving to council suggests that they stick with their current practice and include their ABC participation in their salary, at least for now. 

Twelve of the 22 municipalities surveyed don’t compensate councillors for the committee participation either, while the 10 that do provided no consistent method of doing so. 

“Attendance is taken at every board and committee meeting, where our counterparts from other municipalities receive x-number of dollars, so it strikes me as fair that we should receive the attendance money from our councillors who are putting in the time, and that could be used as a revenue item,” said Coun. George Maroosis. 

“We aren’t talking about the volunteers; we are talking about the boards and commissions where the people beside us are getting paid and the province is subsidizing a good portion of it,” he added. “We’re not looking at introducing pay to the volunteer boards - we’re trying to recoup money.”

The city report also identified how much committee members get paid for attending some of those meetings, including a DNSSAB board member receiving $304 for a regular board meeting, and Cassellholme board members receiving $125 per meeting plus gas mileage, for example. 

Meanwhile, the provincial appointees for the Health Unit and Police Services Board receive $140 per day and $300 per year, respectively. 

Bain also suggested that any councillor who votes against the motion not be rewarded the pay raise if it’s ultimately successful. However, committee chairman Sheldon Forgette said he didn’t think the idea was supported and left it out of the draft recommendation. 

“This was not my first time dealing with a council remuneration resolution and [...] I’ve had numerous councillors vote against taking the remuneration and also take the money, so it was just a new twist on this resolution,” said Bain. 

The recommendation also states that there is no need to seek out public input in determining the politician’s pay. 

The last review of remuneration was in 2000, when councillor pay increased to $16,000 from $9,000 after an ad hoc citizens committee recommended an increase, but also found that councillors didn’t run for office for the money. 

The only change since then has been the annual increases in accordance with the consumer price index, which was also Bain’s brainchild in 2006. 

Last month, Bain also saw his motion to reduce the amount of councillors by two members get defeated in a majority vote. 

At the time, Bain said his intent was for City Council to lead by example and take some of the strain off annual budget. By eliminating the two positions at their current compensation, he estimated that the city could save up to $50,000 each year. 

“There is never going to be a good time for any council to talk about compensation for themselves,” said Bain. “The amount of meetings that we have is extraordinary and it’s more than I anticipated when I was elected, even 13 months ago. 

“The amount of meetings and special meetings that we’re having […] has increased, so the compensation should be in comparison to that,” he concluded. 

The issue is now up for council to cast a final vote in the coming weeks. 

What do you think about the committee's recommendations? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.