Each year for the next three years, Wellington County’s non-union employees will be receiving a pay raise of 3%.
That raise will take effect each year on Jan. 1 until 2011.
According to county Treasurer Craig Dyer, the first year will cost taxpayers an extra $600,000 to $650,000.
When council considered the pay raise recommendation at its Sept. 25 meeting, councillor Rod Finnie stated he is concerned with the amount.
Warden John Green said it is “a regular raise.”
But Finnie said he is concerned about the lengthy period involved. He pointed out there is some economic uncertainty these days.
But Green said the raise is “hand in hand with the union contract” that council passed earlier this year.
Councillor Lou Maieron was also concerned with the pay hike.
“A number of my constituents not only are not getting pay raises, but they are also losing employment,” Maieron said.
He added that if some of those people end up on welfare, the county will also be facing that expense.
But Green told Maieron, “Be careful with this. We have less unemployment now than we had in the spring.”
Green also noted that Waterloo Region and Guelph provided similar pay raises.
County Human Resources Administrator Andrea Lawson told council that the 3% pay hike was “pretty much the standard for all the local areas we surveyed.”
County Chief Administrative Officer Scott Wilson said Wellington County has 110 staff who belong to the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and another 282 people who are non-union employees.
There are 317 employees who are either part time, casual, or contract employees.
Lawson said in an interview last week the policy is that county councillors receive the same pay hike they give their employees.
Currently, county councillors earn $27,382 per year, and the warden is paid $74,492.
All pay raises take effect on Jan. 1.
