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Pandemic lowers travel expenses for Waterloo Region councillors

Compensation for regional councillors includes a salary and benefits, and expenses such as phone, internet, mileage, and sitting on boards

Thestar.com
March 23, 2023
Liz Monteiro

Only three Region of Waterloo councillors filed expenses for conferences in 2022.

With the pandemic, most of the conferences were virtual. The Association of Municipalities of Ontario held an in-person conference in Ottawa last August.

Coun. Michael Harris and Coun. Helen Jowett attended the Ottawa conference, along with Regional Chair Karen Redman. Expenses filed by three politicians for the conferences amounted to nearly $9,000.

Redman had the largest compensation of all regional council, according to the region’s 2022 remuneration and expenses approved at regional council Wednesday night.

Councillor remuneration and expenses for the previous calendar year is reported annually in March to meet provincial legislation.

Redman’s 2022 salary was $169,721. Total compensation of $250,832 included benefits, mileage, vehicle allowance, meetings and events, telecom, which includes cellphone, and sitting as chair of the Waterloo Regional Police Services Board.

Each regional councillor who serves 12 months receives a base salary of $46,462 plus benefits.

Councillors who didn’t run or didn’t get re-elected in last October’s municipal election received a little less, while councillors who chair committees receive a “premium,” said Craig Dyer, the region’s commissioner of corporate services.

Harris, who chairs the finance and budget committees, received $47,079 plus benefits. He didn’t claim mileage or expenses for meetings and events but did receive $2,304 for phones expenses.

Dyer said during the pandemic, councillors were able to expense their phone, internet costs and the use of a printer at home.

Some councillors claim mileage, while others do not. “I’ve never billed a kilometre in mileage,” Harris said.

Of the remaining regional councillors, Woolwich Mayor Sandy Shantz had the highest compensation with a salary of $46,462 plus benefits, as well as mileage, meetings and events and membership on the police services board, amounting to $75,975. She did not expense her phone.

Mayors who sit on regional council also receive salaries from their individual municipality.

Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic received $46,462 as a regional councillor plus benefits, and $1,514 for telecom expenses. He did not claim mileage or meetings and events.

Vrbanovic said regional councillors “put in a significant amount of time” as politicians for the region.

“We are a billion dollar organization,” he said.

Last year, regional council came under fire when the outgoing council voted themselves free benefits for life at their last meeting committee meeting shortly after the Oct. 25 municipal election.

Under the plan, current councillors and those elected in the future would continue to receive free dental benefits, life insurance, supplementary health care and out-of-province health insurance after they leave regional politics, so long as they served four years in office and if they were 55 or older.

Many residents were outraged and one councillor publicly regretted the mistake. In December, council scrapped the measure and agreed to strike a citizens committee to review compensation rules in Year 3 of the current four-year term.