Mayor to have salary rolled back?

During the campaign leading up to our November municipal election, Jim Abernethy spoke often of fiscal responsibility, and made a promise to have a look at the large mayoral salary and possibly have it rolled back, if elected.

This process is now taking place, and our new Mayor is living up to his campaign promise. There were earlier rather sizable salary increases, but the most recent included not only a council voted (in 2004) mayoral salary increase from $54,640 in 2004 to almost $67,000 effective January 2005, another increase up to $69,043 effective in January 2006, and then a further increase to $71,460, scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2007. Gee, how would the average voter/taxpayer in Clarington like to be able to vote him/herself that type of yearly increase?

In addition to the outrageous salary increases, and even more outrageous (in the opinion of most taxpayers) were the flat-rate mileage rate increases for both the mayor and councillors. The Mayor's rate more than doubled from $570 per month to $1,293 per month! And remember that the mayor (and regional councillors) also receive a nice additional minimum salary of $40,725.49 from the Region and another $5,979.41 if they chair a committee. They can also claim additional money for attending conferences and meetings and additional mileage.

Clarington Council will only be able to alter the municipal portion of the Mayor's salary and not the Regional portion, but the entire package must be considered when looking at any rollback to the total, which is what is now being done.

Staff has been directed to review the Mayor's annual remuneration, with a view to not alter the compensation for any Councillors. Councillors in Clarington earn 40% of the Mayor's salary rate, but of course Regional Councillors also earn that extra hefty package from the Region in addition to their salary. Some of the new Regional Councillors (from other municipalities) have remarked at how generous that Regional package is, some with a bit of surprise and embarrassment!

I would suggest that the local councillors for Clarington should not have their salaries rolled back at all (and that is not being contemplated). In 2005, basic pay for a Clarington Councillor was 17, 788.67. With all the extras (Expense allowance, Omers Equivalent, mileage, conferences, etc), the salary runs around $35, 000 per year. They deserve at least that amount, and I don't think most people would fret if their salaries are increased a bit each year. However, our local councillors who also sit on regional council already have an additional $40,000 plus and most of us don't feel their base Clarington salaries need to be increased at the same rate as the local councillors.

Regional remuneration is higher than it should be, in our opinion, since all regional councillors already receive their base salary from their municipality. The base regional salary for councillors is higher than most municipal salaries, and regional salary is in addition to that municipal salary. Sure they have some extra work to do, but most of us don't believe it is more than double their local council work. And they get all those extra perks again at the region. So when there is a council increase, let's look at the overall package, just as the Mayor is having done for his remuneration. Local councillors need the increase, regional councillors don't, at least not at this present time. There is no reason the rates must be exactly the same.

We are grateful that Mayor Abernethy has taken a stand against fiscal irresponsibility (to the taxpayer). There are other areas he will be looking at as well, I'm sure. But this is a good start and shows that he means to live up to his campaign promises, and that is very encouraging.

For more on this topic, see Jennifer Stone's Metroland (This Week) column, Clarington's mayoral salary up for discussion.