Council will consider a resolution tonight to hike the pay for its members for the first time in 18 years.
It will be a substantial pay hike, too, phased in over four years. Currently, Councillors get $300 per month ($3,600 per year) and the Mayor gets $500 per month ($6,000 per year). Under the new pay scheme recommended by the finance committee, that will rise immediately to $400 per month for Councillors and $640 per month for the Mayor.
Those rates will continue to rise each year through 2013. The Mayor’s remuneration package will go up by $140 a month once each year through 2013; Councillors will see their pay rise $100 a month once each year. By 2013, the Mayor’s salary will be $1,200 per month ($14,400 per year) and Councillors will get $800 per month ($9,600 per year).
Even at those rates, Atikokan’s elected leaders will still rank among the lowest paid in the Northwest.
A survey of the smaller municipalities in the region conducted last month by Dougall Media (www.tbsource.com) showed the average mayoral salary was about $18,000 a year ($1,500 per month), and the average councillor salary was almost $10,000 ($833 per month). Surveyed were Greenstone (the highest, at $25,000 for the mayor and $15,000 for Councillors), Kenora ($22,800 and $11,400), Fort Frances ($22,322 and $10,507), Dryden ($22,000 and $10,000), Marathon ($20,928 and $9,418), Sioux Lookout ($18,000 and $9,000), Red Rock ($10,546 and $7,911), Terrace Bay ($10,260 and $8,303) and Nipigon ($10,000 and $8,000).
The finance committee, with the support of Town staff, have been reviewing the remuneration package for Council for some time. The recommendation for the increase came at a February 18 committee meeting attended by Councillors Marj Lambkin (chair of the finance committee), Mary Makarenko and Sherwin Durand (not a regular member of the committee), as well as CAO-treasurer André Morin and deputy treasurer Brandy Coulson. Councillor Bud Dickson, who is part of the finance committee, was not on hand.
“There is never a good time to raise [Council members’ pay],” said Councillor Lambkin at Monday’s committee-of-the-whole meeting. But even with these increases, the pay package here in 2013 “will still be below the average for the region, at current rates.”
The recommendation, which will likely come to the floor as a by-law at tonight’s regular session of Council, drew little comment at the committee-of-the-whole session.
“I know it’s necessary for Atikokan to get caught up, but right now, with the way things are…” said Mayor Dennis Brown, who did not finish the thought.
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