GUELPH – The cost of compensating Wellington County councillors was over $800,000 in 2018.
For a crisper .pdf image of the chart, click the following County Council2
Treasurer Ken DeHart presented a statement of remuneration and expenses for county council at the Feb. 28 meeting.
Pay, expenses and benefits for all council members, including six elected for the first time in November and who began council duties in December, totaled $813,430.
Dennis Lever, who served as warden in 2018, was the highest paid member of council last year, receiving total salary of $87,589 (which includes a tax-free allowance of $29,196), plus benefits of $7,317 and expenses of $13,753 for total remuneration of $108,660.
2018 was the last year councillors could receive one-third of their salary tax free. Since 1953, the Federal Income Tax Act had provided that one-third of the salary paid to an elected member of council was deemed to be for “expenses incurred in the discharge of the member’s duties” and not subject to income tax. The federal government announced it was ending the exemption in its 2017 budget, a change that came into effect for 2019.
To compensate for the loss of the allowance, the outgoing county council raised councillor salaries to $41,000 and the warden’s compensation to $127,421.
For the seven council members who are also mayors of their respective municipalities, the county compensation is in addition to remuneration received from their home municipality.
Benefits include the employer portion of OMERS and CPP as well as dental and extended health coverage. Expenses include amounts reimbursed to officials plus amounts paid on their behalf.
