Council Salaries Going Up 27%
A close 5 to 4 vote results in an immediate raise.
“With cost of living going up, it’s way overdue” - Councillor Daniel Gagne
“When I came in, I knew what I was getting into. I’m not even in favour of (the raise). That’s a 27% raise. Who gets that?” - Councillor Fern Pellerin
“We signed up for this. Knowing it was until 2026. Stick to our salaries for the next 18 months. It’s the most democratic and most transparent way to do this.” - Councillor Georges Pharand
“Council honorarium is increased yearly as per CPI (Consumer Price Index). Example, in 2023 it was increased by 6.1% with additional increased adjustments for every subsequent year” - Former Mayor, Joanne Savage
When council finalized a proposal this week to increase their salaries, the most contentious issue was not the amount but rather the timing.
Last month, an outside consultant had provided council with comparable municipalities to justify an increase to their salaries. Although no neighbouring municipalities were used, the recommendation was to implement 27% or 37% raises for both councillors and the mayor based on situating this council among the 50th and 60th percentile of the chosen comparables. These raises would be in addition to annual cost of living increases.
Council decided to defer the item because they wanted to consider options for adding health benefits to their compensation package. At Tuesday’s meeting, staff proposed some medical benefit options totalling approximately $3,200 per councillor.
Most councillors were opposed to this idea arguing that it was not necessary. But when it came to the pay increase, most believed it was warranted.
While the salary structure of members of council has not changed, councillors have received annual increases every year since West Nipissing was amalgamated. As pointed out by long-time mayor, Joanne Savage, “council honorarium is increased yearly as per CPI (Consumer Price Index)”. In a social media post Savage added “Example, in 2023 it was increased by 6.1% with additional increased adjustments for every subsequent year”.
Savage also noted that councillors don’t lose any salary for missing meetings for personal reasons and also receive additional compensation for the multiple boards they each sit on, (as an example the honorarium to sit on the DNSSAB board is more than $5,000).
27% Increase Chosen
While councillor Rolland Larabie and Daniel Gagne wanted to opt for a 37% raise, most opposed the idea. Gagne argued “With cost of living going up, it’s way overdue”.
Councillor Kris Rivard, did not support approving the higher increase and argued that the consultant’s report may not paint the entire picture. He pointed out that the compensation calculations did not take into account the car allowance that the mayor receives ($6,960 per year) which most other comparable municipalities did not offer. Adding this to the equation, said Rivard “puts the mayor’s job at over the 75th percentile.”
Councillor Fern Pellerin chimed in “When I came in, I knew what I was getting into. I’m not even in favour of (the raise). That’s a 27% raise. Who get’s that?”
Ultimately council agreed to go forward with the lower proposed increase of 27%.
Effective Immediately
Councillor Kaitlynn Nicol was the first to propose that any increase should only take effect for the next term. Councillor George Pharand supported the idea stating “We signed up for this. Knowing it was until 2026. Stick to our salaries for the next 18 months.” He added “It’s the most democratic and most transparent way to do this.”
When it came time to vote on the motion, councillors voted 5 to 4 to take the pay raise effective the next meeting with deputy mayor, Jamie Restoule who chaired the meeting awkwardly casting the deciding vote.
Implementing this raise now will result in approximately an extra $7,200 for each councillor and an extra $14,000 for the mayor to finish the term. The new salaries will add $52,451 to the municipal budget annually.
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What a disgrace.Thank you councilors Pharand and Pellerin.We need more people like you.As for the other councilors and Mayor shame on you 😡
general workers get 0% or maybe 2%....would like to see other perks, travel paid for, meals/entertainment, gas mileage, car allowance, etc all that should be considered part of the salary package. Budget running at a deficit as it is, now adding about $27,000 to that, which in turn means tax payers will get dinged somehow with covering that cost more money out of our pockets less we put into our community, people on fixed income. why not worry about those being kicked out of their homes right now with no where to go, that should be your priority if you care about your community and its people