Adam Bramburger
Beaver Staff
Amid concern about optics and placing additional burden on taxpayers, Lennox and Addington County council voted 5-2 to direct staff to prepare a new remuneration bylaw to raise salaries for the incoming council.
At a working session meeting last Wednesday, councillors considered increasing the warden’s gross salary by $3,300 and councillors’ gross salaries by $1,900 each in 2019.
Staff brought the consideration forward in response to a change the federal government made in its 2017 budget to income tax law.
According to a report by director of financial and physical services Stephen Fox, the County had a bylaw exempting one-third of council renumeration from taxation. With such exemptions no longer allowed, Fox reported councillors’ net pay would be decreasing by the above amounts.
Chief administrative officer Brenda Orchard said staff brought forward the issue because it felt it would be more appropriate for the outgoing council to set the wage than the incoming one.
“Most councils we’re aware of have already done this or are about to do this to address the fact the federal government has removed the one-third tax exemption for council members,” Orchard said. “The recommendation we’re suggesting that most have done or are about to do is to change the salary so the net income remains the same. Basically, the municipalities will compensation for what the federal government took away because we want to encourage good people to run for council.”
The financial implication in 2019 would be $13,300 in salaries plus another $5,000 the County will lose for HST rebate expenses.
Councillor Marg Isbester said she wasn’t comfortable making the decision.
“I believe the idea and maybe the reason behind it is good, but there are certain things that should be left for the incoming council. They may not like it at all and yet they may be stuck with it,” she said. “We’re paid fairly in our per diems, our expenses and our mileage and I think it’s the federal government that made the mistake by penalizing us for this. It is going to make a whole lot of extra work no matter what we do in that we may start putting in expense sheets for a piece of paper we use in our printer or tickets when we pay our own way to an event.”
John Wise said he didn’t see the rush as the incoming council could change the renumeration anyway. He also said that he wasn’t in favour of asking residents to pay his income tax. While he said he understood, historically the exemption may have helped cover costs, but now councillors can claim their expenses nonetheless.
“Frankly, I think we should just suck it up and pay it. Our property taxes are high enough in our various municipalities already and if you’re in money, I guess this is going to stick a little bit, but I don’t think any of us are really in it for the money,” he said. “The amount of time I spend doing this, I could probably do a few other things to make money… I don’t want our property taxes to pay my income tax. I’ll go with sucking it up.”
Ric Bresee took a different tack. While acknowledging the new council could “change it every week if they want to,” he said by councils at the county level and the lower tier making decisions now, it could provide clarity for candidates coming into office.
“If it’s necessary, it becomes an election issue, but the incoming council knows what their renumeration is going to be and what the possibility is,” he said, adding councillors often have a tendency to be shy about addressing their own wages.
Bresee also said he saw the exemption as a replacement for business income tax rules that offered write-offs on home offices, computers and other necessities of jobs. He said municipal officials don’t have those write-offs available to them, so the bump in pay would compensate for it.
“This, in my opinion, is an equalizer,” he said. “The impact on our total budget is a very small percentage. In fact, I think the CPI increase the next council will be looking at would be a greater increase. I don’t see this as equalizing and normalizing and I do believe we should be doing it at this council and not the next.”
Warden Bill Lowry agreed with Wise’s summation the increase won’t make a huge difference relative to the time councillors spend, but he said he’d support the increase at this time. He also took issue that the federal government made the change.
“The thing that bothers me is this is coming feds who have pensions and make a hell of a lot more. I found it very personal that somebody at that level would make a decision about us at the municipal level that take the heat for them and, for them to be so petty to do this, I just don’t understand the rationale to it. It’s something that left a really bad taste in my mouth,” he said.
“I support doing this for the upcoming people who do this because it is well deserved.”
Isbester and Wise were the dissenting members. Councillor Gord Schermerhorn was not present. The bylaw will be before council July 25 for ratification.