ABERFOYLE – Puslinch Mayor James Seeley’s salary will rise by 33% next year, and councillors will be paid 3.4% more, in an effort to bring their compensation more in line with comparable municipalities.
On Nov. 27 council voted in favour of the recommendation by Marianne Love of ML Consulting, who was hired by the township to review council and employee compensation packages.
The mayor was paid $30,802 in 2024 and councillors were paid $20,754. They can also opt into a health benefit package.
But that puts them well below the 55th percentile of comparable municipalities, which is when 55% of wage rates are below this amount and 45% are above.
The comparator municipalities Love examined include Erin, Centre Wellington, Guelph/Eramosa, Wellington North, Wilmot, Woolwich, Mapleton, Minto, Clearview, Lakeshore, Thames Centre and Tillsonburg, as they have a similar size and rural make-up.
The increase will bring Seeley’s pay to $40,928 and council’s pay to $21,468.
“The 55th percentile pay target is reasonable and it aligns with the employee group,” Love told council.
The last council compensation review was done in 2014, though council has received the same cost of living increases as township employees over that time.
Love said it is best practice to conduct these reviews every three or four years, so there’s not a big jump in any given year.
“If we had done more (reviews), we would not be seeing these numbers,” councillor John Sepulis agreed.
“This (system of regular reviews) is timely and saves us money in the long run. And it compensates everyone fairly.”
Council voted to conduct salary reviews in year two of every four-year council term, with changes coming into effect in year three.
As well, council salary reviews will be done in conjunction with employee salary reviews.
