Monday 10 January 2022

Fredericton council considers pay hike

 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/fredericton-city-hall-remuneration-1.6309201 

 

Fredericton council considers pay hike

The mayor's salary and allowances would climb nearly 23%, while councillors would see a hike of nearly 35%

Council is considering an increase that would see the mayor's pay, including salary and allowances, go from $71,507 to $87,148 — a 22.5 per cent rise and a difference of more than $15,000. 

Councillors would see their pay rise by $9,000, from $26,078 to $35,000 a year, or a 34 per cent increase.

The deputy mayor's pay would fall in the middle, going from $30,000 to $43,000. 

The increase for all of council would amount to $128,994.62. 

Mayor Kate Rogers and each councillor were contacted by CBC. No one would comment before the proposed increases go to council.

"The mayor will not speak to remuneration until after Monday night's council meeting and a report is presented to city councillors," city spokesperson Elizabeth Fraser said an email. 

In 2019, after the federal government axed a tax break that municipal politicians received for part of their income, council hired an independent consultant, Kevin Malone, to review council pay. 

Malone's report recommended that compensation for the mayor, deputy mayor and councillors climb to the median level of comparable municipalities in the Maritimes. 

At the time, that meant an increase of 13.5 per cent in the mayor's salary and 29 per cent in the councillors' paycheques.

The recommendation would have seen the mayor's annual salary rise by more than $8,000 to $79,584; that of deputy mayor's by $8,000, to $38,920, and a councillor's by $7,000, to $32,600. 

In 2019 council, decided to defer the decision until after the election, which was supposed to take place in 2020 but was delayed until 2021 because of the pandemic.

What council is looking at now outstrips the Malone recommendation but would bring Fredericton's council in line with what councillors and mayors in Moncton and Saint John earn.

Remuneration would rise to $87,148 a year for Kate Rogers, who was elected mayor of Fredericton last May. (Jon Collicott/CBC)

According to the agenda for Monday night's meeting, council also looked at the Elected Officials' Compensation Guide created by the Association francophone des municipalités du Nouveau-Brunswick in coming up with the new pay scale.

According to the formula used, which took into consideration the services provided by the municipality such as arenas, pools, snow removal and police and fire service, as well as the government services located within the city, such as hospitals and universities, the size of the city and the average tax base per resident, the pay scale for Fredericton could actually be even higher. 

"The total number of points for the City of Fredericton, as per the guide is 12," says the report in the agenda.  

Using that measure, remuneration would move to $105,000 for the mayor, $47,250 for the deputy mayor and $42,000 for councillors. 

"Other than for the Mayor, the median amount suggested from the Malone report also falls within those ranges," says the agenda report.

Under a city bylaw, councillors already get an annual increase based on the consumer price index for New Brunswick, but the 2019 Malone report also noted that council hasn't had a meaningful increase in compensation since 2010.

CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices

 


53 Comments
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David Amos 
Welcome back to the circus Mr Lutz 
 
 
 
 
Graeme Scott
Thankless job....I think they earn every penny.
 
 
Marguerite Deschamps
Reply to @Graeme Scott: You couldn't pay me enough.
 
 
Samual Johnston 
Reply to @Graeme Scott: agreed ---at least half of their pay is well earned just having to listen to complaints from those of us who do not run for election.
 
 
David Amos
Reply to @Marguerite Deschamps: I would do it for less than half that 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Alex Stevens 
How about 4% for now and revisit remuneration after the housing and homelessness crisis is solved.
 
 
David Lutz
Reply to @Alex Stevens: The housing issue isn't the City of Fredericton's responsibility, remember housing is the Province's area of responsibility under social development and do not return the portion of taxes to the city to manage.
 
 
Tom Gordon
Reply to @David Lutz: Actually it Is the responsibility of the City, Province and Federal government who puts up most of the money. None of them have done much for the past 20 years.
 
 
 
Corrie Weatherfield
Reply to @David Lutz: don't agree with you. example: city could require portion of new developments to be "affordable" units
 
 
Anne Bérubé
Reply to @Alex Stevens: I think that 2% is more than generous in these times PLUS the 1.46% they are getting from their provincial pensions= 3.46% and this is more than most of us.
 
 
David Lutz
Reply to @Corrie Weatherfield: So Corrie are you going to invest your own money in these high risk and low if not no profit scenarios? I love how everyone says developers should be forced to do this. Why would anyone risk their own investment for little to no return on investment. All the people saying they should can build their own units and rent them out, but we don't see that do we.
 
 
David Amos
Content deactivated 
Reply to @David Lutz: So you say
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
David Lutz
They should get a pay hike, If you don't pay them something worth while the only people who will run won't be qualified. I hope they vote in favor of the increase. I don't want a bunch of incompetent people on council because the qualified don't run because it's not worth it.
 
 
Tom Gordon
Reply to @David Lutz: Most of these people already have full-time jobs elsewhere, I'm sure they get paid enough for their trouble. If not then don't run for election.
 
 
David Lutz
Reply to @Tom Gordon: Being a councilor is a full time job on the side, I doubt most people would give up hours of their personal time for free. Council meetings, emails and phone calls from constituents. I don't want the lowest payed person representing my ward thanks.
 
 
Jim Cyr
Reply to @David Lutz: You have it completely backwards. "Serving" the public should be just that............public service. When you make it possible to earn a halfway decent living wage simply by being on city council, you encourage the people who can't "make it" in the real world to gravitate towards being on city council, etc. In the old days, city councils were dominated by the truly successful people who had something to offer based on their own lifetime of striving and success. Today, it's the flunkies who have a hatful of "ideas" who dominate city councils. No public service needed...........just the desire to tell others what to do, and earn a decent salary doing it....
 
 
Samual Johnston
Reply to @Jim Cyr: lol reduce the pay to zero and see who steps up -- Bernnie and his dog Butler currently residing in a tent by the river for Mayor. In the old days ( and still today to some degree) the truly successful people dominated politics to ensure policies where put in place to keep them wealthy and successful along with their 'supporters'.  
 
 
scott homeney
Reply to @David Lutz: No...it's not. It's a part time job. Some of the Councilors can't even be bothered to show up for their regular council meetings. Plus, if they don't like having to do things for their constituents then they are in the wrong line of work
 
 
Lou Bell
Reply to @Jim Cyr: " Flunkies " ? You have no clue what it would entail these days to operate a City ! What a joke ! try harder !
 
 
Samual Johnston
Reply to @Samual Johnston: were
 
 
Marguerite Deschamps
Reply to @Loulou DumBell: Jimmy is a CONservative.
 
 
David Amos
Content deactivated 
Reply to @Marguerite Deschamps: Methinks I should have no doubt that you know what colour coat the dude who started this thread wears N'esy Pas?

 

 

 

 

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