Councillors in the Town of Bracebridge will see an increase in their compensation beginning in November of this year.
During their last meeting, Bracebridge council approved a pay hike to put them in line with the 65th percentile of the town’s market comparators.
Under the newly approved pay structure, the mayor will earn $46,171 per year, the deputy mayor will earn $31,203 per year, and Town councillors will earn $26,456 per year.
Councillor Don Smith said he had no problem with the increase for the mayor and the deputy mayor, but he was struggling with the pay hike for councillors. He pointed out that the pay increase would be roughly 14% on top of the annual pay increases to cover for inflation.
Councillor Stephen Clement said his major concern was that if they didn’t bring Council pay more closely in line with other municipalities they would have to play catch up with a significant increase in the future.
Clement said it was also important to make the position appealing for any members of the public who might be considering running for council in the upcoming election.
In the end, council agreed with Clement and passed the motion to increase their pay.
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I would like to see the market rate compensation report that determined the 65th percentile of market comparable towns. Is this report available to the public? What is the cost of living adjustment being given? What is the pay in Huntsville and Gravenhurst? Lets see some more transparency please.
I think the pay for the Mayor and members of council should be comparable to the pay of comparable towns for comparable work. And it is a tough message to sell to the public when the cost of living is going through the roof and gas is over $2.00 a gallon. Not many of us can approve our own pay increases.
I agree with Councillor Don Smith struggling with a 14% pay hike for councillors. This is unheard of as most increases are usually single digits. I’m sure our nurses won’t like seeing this as they were subject to Ford’s Bill 124 which limits wage increases to 1% a year for the next three years for public sector workers, including nurses, personal support workers, cleaners, and clerks. Meanwhile the Ford government stands by Bill 124 and the other party leaders promise to get rid of it if they claim victory in next month’s election. What a slap in the face to our public sector workers and disrespect to taxpayers nurses in Ontario protest to repeal Bill 124.