Raises for King councillors retroactive to start of year
By Bill Rea

King's mayor and councillors are going to be seeing better pay cheques for their municipal work, and the increases are going to be retroactive to the start of the year.

Council Monday night unanimously approved increases outlined in a staff report, based on a comparison of what is paid to their counterparts in seven surrounding municipalities.

The result is Mayor Margaret Black will be getting a 24.68 per cent increase in her base salary as mayor, from $32,668 to $40,730. This does not include the stipend she receives for sitting on York Regional council. Councillors will see their salaries increased by 23.19 per cent, from $18,171 to $22,385.

The figures were contained in a report to council from Township CAO Scott Somerville, although he said they were not recommendations. The staff recommendation was that council provide direction.

The report also suggested the salary for deputy mayor be hiked from $19,388 to $26,475. But Councillor Bill Cober, who is the current deputy mayor, argued the rate should be geared to what the other councillors make in King. In other municipalities, deputy mayors also sit of regional or county councils, which is not the case in King. He thought an extra seven per cent over what the other councillors get is "equitable."

In his report, Somerville pointed out the issue of councillor salaries came up at budget time earlier this year, but they elected to settle for the three per cent cost of living increase that is customary for councillors and non-union staff. It was also agreed there would be a comparison study of other municipalities to see what their elected officials receive.

Somerville said they looked at what's paid in the Towns of East Gwillimbury, Aurora, Newmarket, Georgina, New Tecumseth, Bradford - West Gwillimbury and Whitchurch - Stouffville.

In the cases of both mayor and councillor, Somerville reported he recorded what they are paid in the other seven municipalities, threw out the highest and lowest figures, then figured the averages of the five remaining numbers to reach the figure listed in his report. He agreed it's a mathematical formula.

"There is no acknowledged formula for determining council members' salaries," he stated, adding a number of factors enter into the calculation.

They include the political environment of the municipality, what's paid in comparable places, the number of council meetings they're expected to attend (both regularly scheduled and special), the municipality's ability to pay and what councillors do outside the formal meeting structure.

"This is really where the politics and and judgement come into it," he told councillors.

Comparing various municipalities is a little tricky because no two places are alike. Somerville pointed out King generally holds biweekly regular council meetings, while other places have them weekly. Then there are special council meetings.

King's population is low, compared with other municipalities, but he observed the Township is an active participant in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), and obliged to deal with growth pressures competing with the restrictions imposed by such factors as the Provincial Greenbelt, Oak Ridges Moraine legislation, etc. Even if the population isn't likely to grow much, he said there are increased demands placed on the Township. He cited the example of the increased number of calls the fire department has to respond to on Highway 400.

Somerville also told Cober the activity level in a municipality does not depend just on its population. He's worked for both Vaughan and Aurora, and said the only real difference is in the volume of activity. He added the population in Vaughan may be a lot larger, but so are the resources available to councillors.

There's been a lot of growth in Vaughan, but a big reason for that is both the councillors and residents there wanted it. Such growth will not be coming to King for roughly the same reasons.

"There is no magic formula" for determining this, he concluded. But he did say what was in his report was "very fair, very reasonable."

He also warned councillors they could easily be criticized for this, but added they have to be true to themselves in a case like this. "I don't see any slackers up there," he remarked.

Several councillors made the point they're not in this for the money.

Black pointed out this is a difficult issue for councillors to deal with, adding that is one of the reasons why the salaries in King have fallen so far behind other places.

Councillor Jack Rupke said the demands on him to perform what he considers due diligence to be a good councillor has increased over the last three years. He added the demands of the job have probably cost him money from other income sources.

"We are catching up," Councillor Linda Pabst observed, adding there has to be something to help encourage other people to run.

She also expected some people to criticize the raise, but added there will be others who will say it's welldeserved.

Councillor Cleve Mortelliti said the biggest problem he's run into is having to attend afternoon meetings, adding that's obliged him to use some of his vacation time from his regular job to make it up. "Over the course of the year it adds up," he remarked.

"I consider this starting point," Councillor Jeff Laidlaw remarked. He said he had followed the activities of council for 10 year prior to running in last year's election, and had never appreciated the time commitment involved.

Laidlaw said he figured the number of hours he spent on the job in October, and said it came to 15 hours of research, 15 hours of reading, 20 hours of meeting with residents, 20 hours of working on and responding to e-mails and 36 different meetings and events which took up 108 hours, totalling 178 hours for the month.

"I'm very glad I'm at this table," he said, stressing he was not complaining. But he added fair compensation is still fair, no matter why one seeks office. He added he could be working those hours at Tim Hortons, get paid more, get thanked more frequently and be treated better.

He added he would be surprised if most King residents don't view this increase as nominal, but well-deserved.

Councillor Jane Underhill was concerned about making the increase retroactive, but Somerville assured her there was money in the 2007 budget to cover it. There were allocations to allow for expenditures resulting from labour negotiations, staff increases, etc.

Black later repeated that council has always had the authority to award itself increases. "Everybody wa just reluctant to do it," she remarked.

She also said someone will criticize council for whatever it does, but she added that over the years, the one thing she has never been criticized for is the amount she makes.