Provincial Minister of Finance Dwight Duncan said after releasing his deficit budget recently that he encourages municipalities to consider wage freezes for their staff.
The Wellington Advertiser tried for over a week to survey county mayors to determine if that is part of their planning, and found few of them have even discussed it yet.
But one of them, Centre Wellington Mayor Joanne Ross-Zuj, who is also county warden, said she and her councils will be doing just that.
“When the province asks to take a look at it, we do,” she said, adding, “The writing’s on the wall.”
Duncan’s suggestion, not yet a policy or government order, came just prior to the annual announcement of the so called “Sunshine List” – a list of government employees who earned over $100,000 last year.
Ross-Zuj noted Guelph has already reduced bus runs on five days because unions there would not agree to a 2% cut, and all other staff are being cut or given time off. That could save the city an estimated $1.2-million in payroll expenses.
Ross-Zuj said as part of the budget process, councillors considered service and staff cuts. While none came this year, she said it is likely those will be considered very seriously next year, particularly if the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund grants continue to be cut.
As warden, Ross-Zuj said last week she has not yet had an opportunity to discuss the issue with the municipal mayors, but she expects the issue to come up at county council. She explained municipalities are stuck between trying to attract good employees and ever increasing costs that hit taxpayers. She said benefits, in particular, are expensive and that is a major concern for her.
She noted, too, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario has been warning local politicians that a crunch is coming over public sector salaries, which are higher, on average, than equivalent wages in the private sector.
Other municipalities appear to be willing to consider such things as a freeze, but area mayors stated that it is their business and not the province’s how they deal with their staff and their finances.
Erin Mayor Rod Finnie responded to the question about considering a freeze by email.
He wrote, “It has not been discussed by council, so it would be inappropriate for me to comment.”
Finnie said municipalities have their own issues, and will decide on their own when they should deal with personnel pay matters.
“It is fine for the province to make that announcement as part of their budget process, but we have our own timetables, and in Erin we had already reached an agreement with our staff,” he said. “It would be disrespectful to unilaterally change this without at least involving them in the discussion.”
Guelph-Eramosa Mayor Chris White also responded by email.
“We will not have an across the board wage increase this year as this is based on the inflation rate – which was minimal last year,” he said.
White was not impressed with Duncan’s request.
“We are a mature level of government which requires no input from the province on how to govern ourselves. As mayor, I take offence that a government with a $ 25-billion deficit should
tell us how to manage our finances.”
Puslinch Mayor Brad Whitcombe said he sees no reason to consider Duncan’s request unless council wants to do that.
“I have no interest, as mayor, in talking about it,” he said. “We have the very best people working for us – and they are appropriately paid.”
Whitcombe added, “At the rural municipal level, we do a lot with a very lean crew.”
He said a wage freeze is really “a very cheap fix” and several years down the road, it comes back to cost a municipality a lot.
Further, he added, his township set staff wages in January, and a new council will set the pay next year.
Wellington North Township Mayor Mike ?Broomhead said his township, too, has already set the pay rates and contracts run until next July.
He said his council has not yet met so it could not discuss Duncan’s request, and, further, he said, the current council cannot bind a new council on a wage freeze when the current contract runs out.
Mapleton Mayor John Green said his council does not need direction from the province on the issue. He said if, for example, non-union staff get a pay freeze and unionized staff have a two year contract, there are hard feelings in the first group.
Further, he said, council is prudent, and there have been years in difficult times when there were no raises for staff.
“We have never given more than 3%,” he said, noting that other municipalities have given pay raises higher than that.
Green added that a freeze might “save money now. It’ll cost you a hell of a lot in the future.”
As for Duncan’s request, “He probably overstepped his bounds saying what other people should do.”
The Advertiser was unable to contact Minto Mayor David Anderson.
