City council’s pay is likely to increase in the next couple of weeks, even though one councillor disagrees with the change.
Two years ago, the federal government eliminated a one-third tax exemption for all elected officials across Canada. The feds justified this change by saying the exemption provided an advantage that other Canadians did not enjoy.
During its June 10 regular meeting, council gave three readings to a remuneration bylaw amendment that would increase the pay of the mayor and councillors to offset the loss of the tax exemption. However, since Coun. Brian Swanson voted against the bylaw during all three readings, it must return to a future council meeting for official approval.
As part of the proposed bylaw amendment, and to offset the tax exemption loss, the mayor’s pay would increase to $79,108 from $68,221, while the salary of a councillor would increase to $24,918 from $22,740.
Swanson pointed out he couldn’t think of any expenses he had incurred while on council. In fact, he thought the federal government had simply closed a tax loophole that wasn’t being used.
If Swanson had used one-third of his councillor’s salary, he continued, that means he would be spending about $600 a month, which he isn’t.
“I look at the cup as being half-full here. We were receiving more money than we should have been,” he said, adding there has been no consistent pattern across the country of councils increasing their pay or leaving it as is.
It’s a fact of life for Coun. Chris Warren that he sometimes has to take one to two days off work as vacation for council business, he explained. Councillors attend two to four meetings for council business regularly, while they also serve on committees or meet with residents about certain issues. All of this involves driving and using fuel.
“We don’t get reimbursed for that,” he said, pointing out they need the internet to conduct research and require phones for their business. He isn’t reimbursed for using up his data or for the calls he makes or receives.
“Is the amount of funds, is it $600 a month? I can’t say,” he added. “There’s definitely a fairly large substantial amount of my personal life that goes into this council. I accepted that.”
The next regular council meeting is Monday, June 24.
