KENILWORTH – The total annual remuneration for Wellington North’s mayor and councillors is set to increase by 33 per cent in 2027.
That’s an annual raise of $10,500 for the mayor and $6,000 for councillors.
The increased payments will kick in on Jan. 1, 2027, following the municipal election next October, and will remain in place until the end of the next council term in 2030, with annual adjustments for inflation.
Wellington North councillors are currently paid $19,000 per year while the mayor is paid $29,500.
The rates will increase to $25,000 per year for councillors and $40,000 per year for the mayor during the next term of council.
That’s a 32% increase for councillors and a 36% increase for the mayor.
And it’s about twice what the mayor and council were paid in Wellington North for the 2014-2016 term of council, when the mayor received $18,659 per year and councillors received $12,689.
Council approved the new rates, as recommended by township staff, on Nov. 17.
Mayor Andy Lennox and councillors Lisa Hern and Penny Renken voted in favour of the raises, while councillor Steve McCabe was opposed (councillor Sherry Burke was absent).
“I just can’t support something that high,” McCabe said.
“I don’t think there should be a raise at all, in my book.”
He asked how staff came up with the recommendation.
CAO Brooke Lambert said staff reviewed remuneration for area councils and found “in Wellington North, salaries were about 17% less for the mayor and about 12% less for the council.”
She said staff closing that gap would mean paying the mayor about $37,000 and the councillors about $23,000 in 2026.
Staff came to the $40,000 and $25,000 recommendation by considering projected inflation, bringing the remuneration for Wellington North’s mayor and council to “average and a little bit above,” she added.
But the final rates depend on “where council wants to see remuneration over the next couple of years – if you’d like to be at the average you could look at those slightly lower rates,” Lambert noted.
Renken initially called staff’s recommendation a “generous offer” and said she’d settle for $22,000 per year instead.
“I believe with the financial strains we have … I would just feel badly about taking up a higher amount,” she said.
Hern supported the recommended rates, noting that in comparison with rates per capita in neighbouring municipalities, “we still came out the cheapest.”
Hern also noted other councils receive per diem rates for attending conferences, as well as benefits, pensions and mental health supports.
“I’m not saying that I expect a full-time job or full-time compensation, but it’s a very difficult job and its takes an awful lot out of you,” she said.
“To have a diverse council I think we need to increase some of that compensation for it.”
Lennox reminded council the raises being considered would not be their own pay, but remuneration for the next term of council.
“I think it’s important that for the best outcome for the community [we] try to do all we can within reason to make sure that we recruit the best possible people to sit on council,” said Lennox.
Some people have greater financial flexibility than others, he noted, providing the example of a young mother who wanted to sit on council but needed to pay for childcare to do so.
“We have to be mindful of how we are setting the pay to make it possible for the best possible people to step forward and participate in this role and make sure that they are kept whole throughout this process as much as possible,” Lennox said.
“Nobody is doing this for the money, clearly, but I think it’s important that they be compensated in a fair manner.”
Lennox and Hern discussed the possibility of incorporating Heath Canada’s employee assistance program for mental health support into council’s compensation, but this was not included in the motion.
