Taxpayers would spend $300,000 a year for additional Vaughan councillor
Yorkregion.com
Nov. 15, 2016
By Lisa Queen
Vaughan taxpayers could soon be spending an extra $300,000 a year to gain an additional seat at York Region’s council chambers.
The city wants to boost its number of regional councillors to five, up from the current four, after the 2018 municipal election.
Five would match the number of councillors Markham has and would better reflect representation by population, Vaughan politicians argue.
“There are people in the city of Vaughan who are not getting the representation of other municipalities,” Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua said.
With a population of more than 366,000, Markham will have one regional councillor for every 73,200 residents following the municipal election.
With four seats, Vaughan, with a population of more than 335,700, would have one regional councillor for every 84,000 residents.
With an extra seat, Vaughan would have one regional councillor for every 67,100 residents.
An extra regional councillor would cost $300,000 a year for the salaries of the councillor and support staff, benefits and discretionary spending, a city report said.
Vaughan and Markham councils have already approved the additional seat and regional councillors are expected to endorse the idea on Nov. 17 after a regional committee agreed to the idea last week.
Before an additional Vaughan regional councillor is adopted, it must still pass a triple majority.
That means a majority of votes on regional council, and a majority of the region’s nine municipal councils and local councils representing a majority of eligible voters.
The idea was shot down in 2013 after not achieving the triple majority.
Regional councillors are also expected on Nov. 17 to discuss the idea of allowing an alternate or proxy vote when councillors are unable to make it to a regional council meeting.
The issue is particularly meaningful for East Gwillimbury, Aurora, Whitchurch-Stouffville and King, which only have one representative on council.
Regional chair Wayne Emmerson suggested giving each municipality at least two seats but others argued residents would bristle at the idea of more politicians.
“This is not about representation by population, this is about being fair to the region of York and to the local municipalities,” Emmerson said.
But representation by population is a cornerstone of democracy and if all municipalities get at least two regional council seats, then Markham and Vaughan should each get six seats, Markham Councillor Jack Heath said.
Giving East Gwillimbury, Aurora, Whitchurch-Stouffville and King each an additional seat without boosting seats in the south would give the northern six municipalities with 25 per cent of the population 48 per cent of the votes on regional council, Markham Councillor Jim Jones said.
The latest governance issues come on the heels of a proposal by Jones to create one city made up of Markham, Vaughan and Richmond Hill, possibly with parts of Whitchurch-Stouffville and King thrown in as well.
That and other governance issues, such as directly electing councillors to regional council, have not yet been discussed at regional council.
