Town of Barrhead councillors will be getting a large pay increase starting in the new year.
On Dec. 11, councillors unanimously voted to increase their base salary as well as the per diems they receive for attending meetings (other than regular council and committee meetings) by 16.5 per cent without comment or discussion.
The majority of the increase (14 per cent) is to make up for the loss of money councillors are able to take home due to a change in federal tax laws that will remove long-standing tax exemptions for elected officials on one-third of their salaries starting Jan. 1.
The remaining 2.5 per cent is a cost of living adjustment (COLA). The cost of the increase to ratepayers is estimated at $20,940 annually.
The rationale behind the change, was stated in page 208 of the 2017 Federal budget, where it says, ‘In today’s workforce, many Canadians receive benefits such as a daily food allowance or transit fare, which are counted as taxable income. Yet certain tax measures allow some individuals to pay less than their fair share of taxes on such benefit.’
Coun. Don Smith first broached the subject in March saying the changes in the tax laws could have a significant impact on councillors and asked that administration research what other communities were doing.
Chief administrative officer Martin Taylor stated in the information package that after talking to surrounding municipalities, several are increasing councillors’ pay by a similar amount.
The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), who actively campaigned against the change, says municipalities that take no action may risk discouraging participation in municipal administration, especially among youth.
They state surveys conducted by provincial and territorial municipal associations show the majority of municipalities have chosen to fully compensate elected officials for their loss.
The increase will see the mayor’s monthly honorarium go from $2,375 to $2,770 while councillors remuneration would go from $1,360 to $1,585. The per diems for the mayor and councillors will also increase from $235 to $275 for any meeting over four hours. For meetings shorter meetings, the rate goes from $120 to $140.
Mayor Dave McKenzie said after the meeting that one of the reasons why councillors did not debate the policy is that they had extensively discussed it during their budget deliberations.
“It’s an unfortunate situation municipalities are facing,” he said. “Basically what we’ve and many other municipalities have done is to take steps so councillors stay on par to what they have been being paid, so really it is not an increase to the elected officials.”
