THUNDER BAY – City council has voted to award itself a historically large 2.9 per cent pay hike, responding to a year of surging inflation, with some councillors suggesting compensation should climb further.
The move followed a 2019 policy that suggests pegging council's compensation at half the rate of inflation, but leaves the choice in council's hands with a yearly vote.
The city uses the previous year’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) increase for Thunder Bay, as calculated by Statistics Canada, as a benchmark.
That inflation measure shot up by 5.8 per cent in 2022, prompting the 2.9 per cent pay hike recommendation.
Monday’s vote brings annual base pay to roughly $32,500 for councillors, and $99,000 for the mayor.
Council members take home more than that after accounting for paid committee assignments, health and retirement contributions, and a car allowance, however – upwards of $40,000 for councillors and around $130,000 for the mayor.
The pay hike will cost the city just over $15,000 this year, an amount that was already budgeted for.
Smaller increases have sometimes prompted hand-wringing at council in the past, but on Monday, councillors seemed to find a new consensus.
"I’m not ashamed to say this job doesn’t pay what it should — not only not keeping up with inflation, but the type of work we’re now having to do that’s being downloaded by other orders of government," said Coun. Shelby Ch'ng. "We’re expected by the public to deal with things like mental health and homelessness… with very few resources at our disposal."
Compensation has serious implications for equitable representation, she added.
"If you’re a single mother ... if you’re a person with a disability, you can’t afford to be around this table," she said. "The only people who can afford to be around this table are people who are independently wealthy, who are retired, who essentially look like us."
Council is officially a part-time gig for all but the mayor, and most councillors also hold down other jobs — though most also say they spend what amounts to full-time hours on their council duties.
Mayor Ken Boshcoff, who put his workweek at 80 to 90 hours, said he'd "never encountered any kind of public objection" to what councillors are paid.
"I think there’s a lot of appreciation for what council does and I think [people] truly understand that the compensation is low for the amount of hours," he said.
The policy of half-inflationary increases yielded pay bumps of 2.35 per cent last year and 0.55 per cent in 2021.
Council briefly departed from the policy in 2020, foregoing a 0.5 per cent increase in a move meant to recognize the financial challenges of COVID-19.
Councillors have said the policy stops pay from falling behind and keeps politics out of the decision.
Last year’s increase came over the objections of Coun. Mark Bentz, whose push to reduce it to 1.5 per cent failed by a single vote. At the time, Bentz said while he generally favours the policy, it should be reconsidered in times of high inflation.
Bentz had also warned it would be poor optics for council to award itself increases above what the city negotiated with unionized workers, typically 1.5 to 2 per cent.
On Monday, however, Bentz said while he was "not out to advocate for more money for politicians," the half-inflation policy might fall short.
“Half of CPI is not sustainable, and it’s going to result in a large-scale re-adjustment at some point,” he said. “It means every year, remuneration around this table drops in buying power.”
In a report, staff noted the 2019 policy was approved following a process including public consultation and an assessment of compensation levels in comparable municipalities.
“In the past, the [city] completed reviews of council remunerations in a sporadic fashion, which contributes to salaries for publicly elected officials [falling] behind,” staff wrote.
Coun. Andrew Foulds agreed, saying local city councillors were "generously compensated" in the past, but that eroded after pay was not adjusted for many years.
"The politics of this are difficult, there’s no question of that, and there will be those in the public who will always say politicians are overpaid," he said. "I don’t think we should be ashamed of the hard work we do, and I don’t think we should be ashamed we have to go on TV each week and make hard decisions."
Foulds added that a review of city council composition planned for 2023-2024, which could recommend shrinking it from its current 13 members, might also lead council to consider "drastic changes" to what councillors are paid.
