Is East Gwillimbury council overpaid?: Council debates own wage

Report shows members are paid more than councillors from similar-sized municipalities

Yorkregion.com
August 17, 2018
Simon Martin

How much should members of council be paid? That’s the decision East Gwillimbury council is struggling with after a staff report showed they are compensated significantly more than councillors from similar-sized municipalities. 

Currently East Gwillimbury councillors receive a salary of $44,108 and a car allowance of $4,719.  The town is moving from an at-large system to a ward system this fall and increasing the number of councillors from four to six.

The current salary of $44,108 is substantially more pay than councillors receive in similar sized municipalities in the area. Georgina councillors get paid $27,248 with no car allowance; King $26,948; Orillia $38,621; New Tecumseth $21,548; Bradford $20,410; Innisfil $21,170; Whitchurch-Stouffville $35,794.

When looking at the Northern 6 municipalities of York Region, East Gwillimbury councillors are the second highest paid next to Newmarket even though towns like Georgina, Aurora and Whitchurch-Stouffville have significantly larger populations.  

The average councillor salary in the N6 is $35,468.   

In staff’s original report on the matter in May, they used different comparator groups that included municipalities with a far larger population. Even though one of the comparator groups included town’s with a much larger population than East Gwillimbury (32,000) including Richmond Hill (195,022), Newmarket (84,224), Aurora (55,445), Caledon (66,502), Halton Hills (61,161) and Milton (110,128), East Gwillimbury’s councillor salary was slightly higher than the average of the group. Council asked staff to come back with numbers where ward sizes were similar.

Coun. Marlene Johnston said it didn’t make sense for a town of East Gwillimbury’s size to have municipalities like Richmond Hill in its comparator group. At the Aug. 14 council meeting her motion to reduce councillor salaries to $39,000 was defeated with Mayor Virginia Hackson and councillors Tara Roy-DiClemente and Joe Persechini voting against the motion.

Hackson said the situation council is put in to decide their own salary is awkward. She said she is an advocate for getting a citizen community group to take part and provide recommendations. Members of council felt uncomfortable voting on the figures proposed without a fully costed report in front of them. Staff will return with new numbers to digest at the first council meeting in September. “No matter when you do it, it still feels awkward,” said Roy-DiClemente, who also said that council should look at moving to evening meetings if they are looking to reduce salaries. 

“We are making decisions on millions and millions of dollars. So we need the best of the best and be surrounded by the best of the best,” Persechini said.

When it comes to mayoral compensation, it’s much the same story. The current salary of $70,459 paid by the town is substantially more pay than most mayors receive in similar sized municipalities in the area. The Georgina mayor gets paid $56,070; King $49,034; Orillia $82,843; New Tecumseth $36,865; Bradford $38,951; Innisfil $39,150; Whitchurch-Stouffville $53,202. 

Back in May, the staff report used the same large population municipalities as it did for councillor salaries. The numbers showed the $70,459 the town pays for the mayor was significantly less than that group of municipalities which average mayoral salary was $89,008.