Council members here have approved a revised bylaw granting themselves a retroactive raise of 2.4 per cent and clarifying when meeting per diems are paid.
The move will add to an anticipated budget shortfall for council remuneration in 2015.
CAO Brad McRoberts explained in a report on Nov. 24 that during preliminary budget discussion on Nov. 10, council discussed clarification the township’s council remuneration bylaw.
Direction was provided for staff to revise the bylaw to reflect both a 2015 cost of living increase of 2.4% and to clarify that the base salary applied to regular set council meetings on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month. Council is to be paid a per diem for any additional meetings.
The report notes meetings that are “contiguous” with a regular or special meeting of council, such as public meetings held within the time frame of a regular meeting, are not considered eligible for an additional per diem.
The net cost of the adjustment for 2015 is estimated to be $1,465 for base salary and $6,900 for additional per diems not paid out to this point in 2015.
The 2015 council budget remuneration was set at $79,000 and the actual payouts to Oct. 31 total $68,000. The report indicates projections for the remainder of the year would bring council wages to 81,600, slightly over budget without the increase.
McRoberts anticipates adding the wage increase and additional per diems will increase the actual to as much as $90,000 ($11,000 over budget).
“The overage is likely the consequence of a heavy council schedule in 2015 due to various ongoing issues, including but not limited to two sets of budget deliberations (2015 and 2016) in one year, municipal maintenance facility, wastewater environmental assessment, development charges, wastewater rate study, council training and CAO recruitment,” McRoberts states in his report.
Mayor Neil Driscoll said, “This is just cleaning it up so there’s actually clear direction as to what council is doing and what it is getting paid for. I think it’s actually long overdue.”
The increase matches the same provided for Mapleton employees in the 2015 budget.
On July 28 council approved the cost of living increase retroactive to Jan. 1 for employees working with the township as of Aug. 1.
McRoberts told the Wellington Advertiser council held off approving the wage increase until the questions surrounding the per diem payments could be clarified.
