Kawartha Lakes mayor defends salary increase, cutting council in half
Some residents call moves self-serving while councillors say it’s all part of a principled review of city services.

TheStar.com
Jan. 15,2018
Alex McKeen

As municipal elections loom in the fall, some Kawartha Lakes residents are fed up with changes their mayor and city council have made since 2014 — which include cutting in half the number of councillors while increasing their salaries by 40 per cent for the next term.

Rookie mayor Andy Letham, who won by a sizable margin in the last election, stands by the decisions and says he would make them again, even if they lose him votes.

“I’m not a very political person,” Letham said. “I certainly don’t make decisions based on how popular they’re going to be. That doesn’t keep everybody happy.”

Some residents, like Greg Nicholson, have gone so far as to say the mayor and council have failed in their duties by “wasting money” and “giving themselves a raise,” while “cutting services.”

The extent and pace of the changes brought by the mostly rural city would be unthinkable in many other Ontarian municipalities, where major changes to city operations can be politically sensitive.

It’s all part of what Letham calls a “business-approach” review of 49 city services, which he determined was necessary after assuming office and taking a hard look at the city’s funding. The review ranges from libraries to hockey rinks to the police service, but the aspect that’s gained the most attention among residents is the review of council itself.

In March 2017 the council of 16 members — eight of whom were elected for the first time in 2014 — and the mayor, voted 15-2 in favour of reducing the number of city councillors to eight. That was followed by a November decision to increase future councillors’ annual salaries by $10,000 each, a plan that passed by a margin of 10-6 (with one absence).

Councillors earn $26,898 currently, plus a $3,200 car allowance. After the 2018 election they will earn $41,065, including the car allowance and cost of living increase.

The change will save the city a total of around $109,000 annually.

While Letham said he appreciates the awkwardness of a city council voting on salaries for councillors, he added that he doesn’t agree his council’s decision amounts to giving themselves a raise.

“Voting half their jobs away — you have to give them credit for that,” Letham said of the 14 councillors who voted to shrink council last year. “It’s not about them, it’s about what works for the municipality.”

But Nicholson and some other residents say they’re not convinced.

Resident Charles Scheffel isn’t fixated on the salary increase, but he said the reduction of councillors only serves to “put control in fewer hands.”

He launched an Ontario Municipal Board appeal against the ward boundary changes, which was rejected partly because his argument centred on representation on council, a matter outside the board’s jurisdiction.

Councillor Heather Stauble, one of the two councillors who voted against the reduction in council size, opposed the change for similar reasons.

“When you reduce the number of councillors you change the balance between administration and representation,” she said. “When you reduce the number of councillors, that’s a bigger job, and you’re relying more on your staff.”

Councillor Doug Elmslie sees the changes as a long time coming. He first raised reducing the size of council in 2007, six years after the amalgamation of the city from former townships of Victoria county. He saw the 16 councillor structure as temporary — a relic of the Victoria County organization.

An influx of new councillors and a new mayor were partly responsible for the large changes, Elmslie said.

“There were more people on this council who were willing to have this leap of faith,” he said. “I think it’s a good news story right across the country. Not all politicians are standing up.”

Some of the review results pertaining to city services continue to be controversial.

“Smaller communities are at risk of losing their fire halls, libraries, that kind of thing,” Scheffel said.