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Markham council salaries: 'some cases , good value, others , very poor value'

Council members earned $1.6M in 2018

Yorkregion.com
April 24, 2019
Tim Kelly

ou paid your municipal representatives a total of $1,661,799 in salary and expenses in 2018.

While that may seem like a lot, it pales in comparison to the amount, for instance, of the 2019Markham budget, which was recently passed and totals a record high amount of $519.78 million. However, $1,661,799 total also doesn’t include the several hundred thousand dollars in office space and salaries are paid to the mayor's and councillors' staff, which would boost the council budget to well over $2 million annually.

It will likely come as little surprise Mayor Frank Scarpitti was the highest paid council member earning $246,399 between his local compensation of $139,162 as mayor and $56,917 for sitting on regional council.

He also receives $7,800 for sitting on the board of Markham District Energy Inc., and $42,500 as council's representative on the board of Alectra for a total of $246,399.

The mayor also claimed $23,727 in expenses in 2018.

Markham had five regional councillors instead of its customary four in 2018 because Coun. Nirmala Armstrong was defeated in October and was replaced at the regional level by former local councillor Don Hamilton, now deputy mayor.

Armstrong was paid $133,926 for 11 months of work and claimed $13,363 in expenses. Her local pay included $73,472 from the city and $7,275 for sitting on the Markham Enterprise Corporation board. She also received $53,179 from the region.

Hamilton earned $79,150 locally and $3,738 for one month at the region for a total of $82,888 in pay and claimed $8,093 in expenses.

As for Markham's other regional councillors, their compensation follows:

On the local side, the breakdown is as follows:

Each of the four local councillors elected in October, were paid for one month, December, and received $4,555 apiece. They are Ward 1 Coun. Keith Irish, Ward 3 Coun. Reid McAlpine, Ward 5 Coun. Andrew Keyes and Ward 8 Coun. Isa Lee. Each claimed different amounts of expenses however in December: Irish claimed $667, McAlpine $344, Keyes $327 and Lee $202.

Outgoing councillors who served 11 months included Ward 1. Coun. Valerie Burke, Ward 5 Coun. Colin Campbell and Ward 8 Coun. Alex Chiu.

Burke was paid $81,072 including $7,600 for sitting on the Markham Enterprise Corp. board and claimed $8,043 in expenses. Campbell was paid $83,572 including $10,100 for sitting on the Markham Enterprise Corp. board and claimed $9,969 in expenses. And Chiu was paid $80,747 including $7,275 for sitting on the Markham Enterprise Corp. board and claimed $10,943 in expenses.

Ward 7 councillors Logan Kanapathi and Khalid Usman split the seat in 2018 with Kanapathi resigning to run and win as a PC MPP mid-year. Usman was appointed to replace him.

Kanapathi earned $44,000 including $5,450 for his place on the Markham Enterprise Corp. board while Usman was paid $41,885 including $2,408 for his time on the Markham Enterprise Corp. board.

Kanapathi claimed $6,520 in expenses, Usman, $2,300.

Only three local councillors filled their seats the entire year: Ward 2 rep Alan Ho, Ward 4 Coun. Karen Rea and Ward 6 Coun. Amanda Collucci.

Ho was paid $85,584 including $6,950 for sitting on the Markham Enterprise Corp. board and claimed $13,139 in expenses. Rea earned $87,234 which also includes $8,600 for being on the Markham District Energy Inc. board in 2018 and claimed $11,811. Collucci was paid $86,834 which also includes $8,200 for being on the Markham District Energy Inc. board and claimed $10,982 in expenses.

David Jordon, president of the Thornhill Conservation District Ratepayers Association, has mixed feelings about what councillors are worth.

“In some cases we get very good value for what is paid and in others we get very poor value. Anyone can run … and there are no prerequisites for the job. Once elected, an incompetent councillor cannot even be fired unless they are in jail or have missed an inordinate number of consecutive meetings,” he said.

“My view is, like any other job one should be qualified to do it. As this is not the case council is made up of all kinds of people, some of which should simply not be sitting in a position where their potential incompetent vote affects so many people. In these cases their salaries are a monumental waste of money,” he added.

Peter Ross, speaking on behalf of the Vinegar Hill Ratepayers Association, has a more charitable view.

“Our overall impression is that the local Ward 4 and 5 councillors as well as the regional councillors and city staff we have dealt with were generally hard-working and competent and responsible to their constituents. Current rates of remuneration appear to reflect the standards of municipalities of the size and complexity of Markham,” he said.