Guelph council narrowly passes pay increase

Giving yourself a raise is always a sticky wicket for city councils. To help get around that, Guelph has a policy in place where councillors’ and the mayor’s remuneration is reviewed ahead of a municipal election.

In essence, councillors are voting for the compensation of the next council.

Tuesday night, council passed a motion approving an 11.88 per cent increase to the councillor’s base salary. The wage will jump from $52,857 to $59,137 a year.

Part of the process involves comparing the current salary to those of councillors in similar-sized municipalities. For Guelph, traditionally has been Barrie and Kingston.

Ward 5 councillor, Leanne Caron tabled the motion, Tuesday night.

“This is a policy-based decision,” Caron told council. “If my colleagues aren’t interested in this number, then I think we need to talk about the policy, and I’m not sure we’re prepared to do that because nominations for the election open May 1. Future candidates need to know, we need to make that decision tonight.”

And that’s what council ended up doing. Caron’s motion passed by the narrowest of margins, 7-6.

While it was being discussed, Ward 1 Councillor Dan Gibson said he couldn’t support the motion.

“We can look at data and we can write policy but at the end of the day, those are our best comparators (Barrie and Kingston) in the province of Ontario. And we are already far exceeding their pay for city councillors, and we’re out-numbering, in some cases, their council. So I’ll be voting against it. I will be voting for the status quo.”

According to the report to council, the base pay for councillors in Barrie last year was $44, 276 and in Kingston, $50,688.

Both well below the $59,137 Guelph councillors will be making on November 1, but right in line with what they’re paid now.

Why such a discrepancy?

Fellow Ward 1 Councillor, Erin Caton, voted in favour of the motion after pointing out that the cost of living is significantly higher in Guelph than it is in either Kingston or Barrie.

“At the pay rate we have, this is not a doable job unless you have a spouse that can carry you, you already have significant savings, you’re not someone who has additional expenses such as disabilities, you’re not a single parent. There are a number of reasons this does not help us move towards having a diverse population on our council.”

Caton believes better compensation would open doors to more people with differing life experiences.

Mayor’s salary

When it comes to the Mayor’s compensation, Cam Guthrie has voted against a mayoral pay raise several times. The next mayor’s compensation will remain at $164,942. However, there will be a small increase in the cost of living.

By comparison, Kitchener Mayor, Berry Vrbanovic’s salary was $117,388. The salary for Jan Liggett in Cambridge was $126,985 and for Dorothy McCabe in Waterloo, $116,831.

Last month, Guthrie announced he would not be running in the municipal election set for October 26.

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