Something is wrong with the county pay system and councillors asked in a recorded vote on Oct. 27 for the administrative, finance and personnel committee to try again with its pay increase recommendation.
That increase would see non-union employees (department heads and those not involved in CUPE Local 973) receive a pay hike of three per cent a year for the next three years. As well, the proposal called for an extra week of holidays for department heads in lieu of overtime.
Assistant director of human resources Susan Farrelly said in an interview department heads work a 35-hour week and when they work extra hours, nights and weekends they do not receive time off in lieu of those hours. Instead, they receive an extra week of holidays for their overtime.
The salary increase proposal came on the heels of the county settling pay increases for its union members that include:
– 2.75% in 2011;
– 2.50% in 2012; and
– 2.255 in 2013.
The committee’s motion included a recommendation that no changes should be made to the non-union compensation grid, based on 2010 information compiled with Mercer Consulting, and that the county change comparators as required to ensure the best match and demographic location for recruitment purposes.
But several councillors ignored the discrepancy in pay increases and focused instead on what they see as too generous a pay hike for non-union staff.
Councillor Dennis Lever said he has “serious concerns about the proposal.” He noted three years ago he was sitting in the gallery at council and heard concerns about the “economic climate.”
He said of the proposed pay hike, “We need to be careful. We all work hard, but we also need to consider our residents as well.”
Lever urged councillors to “look around the county. You’d be hard pressed to find a nine per cent increase over three years, or see salaries increase three per cent” annually.
Lever is concerned about comparisons the county has used in the past to justify pay hikes for its staff, and asked that the proposal “go back to committee.” He wants to see an increase more in line with what the county’s taxpayers are receiving for their raises.
“I want to see real ability of taxpayers to pay,” he said. “Include that [data] before it comes back.”
Finance committee chairman John Green said Lever’s comments left him “in a quandary.”
Councillor Mark MacKenzie asked if council has the right to interfere or stop the pay equity process.
Human resources director Andrea Lawson said the proposal that supported her report to the committee had nothing to do with pay equity, and referred only to the cost of living.
Warden Chris White suggested that item be separated from the rest of the committee report for a separate vote.
Councillor Lou Maieron said he does “not want to be the Rob Ford of the County of Wellington” (referring to Toronto’s mayor) but he asked what the three per cent equates to in dollars.
Treasurer Craig Dyer said that would amount to $770,000 more pay a year.
Maieron said that equates to about a one per cent tax increase for each of the next three years. He asked how much more in benefits would be paid.
Dyer said another $100,000.
Maieron added that would likely include an increase in payments to the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System pension plan.
He said, “Who you compare yourself to is key.”
Maieron said he looks at Wellington as a rural county, but he recalled the last time there was a pay increase, the places that were compared included “a lot of regions,” and the argument then was Wellington needs to be competitive.
He would like to see comparisons to places such as Grey and Bruce Counties, which are more rural.
Maieron noted that in January he looked at committee statistics and a survey of people who had left the employ of Wellington County. He said 547 people applied for jobs at the county, and only 47 left. Of those who left, many were part time and got full-time jobs elsewhere, or they were returning to school.
He concluded, “I don’t think we have recruitment problems, or retention problems.”
Maieron supported Lever’s bid to refer the issue to the committee for further study, and when it comes back, he wants to see “a real analysis of people leaving, and recruiting.”
He said anything less would be like giving “the manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs the right to pick any players he wanted to win the Stanley Cup.”
As for overtime, Maieron said that as mayor of Erin, he finds the same problem there, but added the county sets the bar and he does not like the idea of a big pay hike in Erin, either.
Councillor Ken Chapman was in agreement. He said as a senior citizen he received a $3 total increase this year. He added there are “a tremendous number of people on fixed incomes.”
He said the county gets 54% of the tax bill, so those seniors would pay a half per cent more on their tax bill just to cover county non-union staff pay hikes.
Green called Maieron’s remark about the Leafs “a total embarrassment” and Maieron immediately withdrew that remark.
Green said the committee considered the consumer price index and noted economists are predicting things will be “fairly stable over the next few years.”
Actually, with the debt crisis in Europe, most economists are being cautious in their forecasts. But, as Lawson noted in her report, the CPI figures indicate an “overall percentage increase” of 3.1% from August of last year to August this year.
As for comparisons with regions instead of other rural counties, Green said Wellington is one of the largest counties in Ontario, and it is surrounded by regions and cities that pay well.
“We’ve attracted good staff,” Green said, adding that where the county draws that staff from is important. He said they come from such places as Waterloo Region and Dufferin County, which is close to the Greater Toronto Area where pay is higher, or Peel or Halton Region, or Hamilton and Guelph.
“Those are our real competitors, whether you like it or not,” Green said when it comes to recruiting staff.
But Lever said it is time to consider taxpayers. He wants a comparative for the county employees. He said he would like to see a job comparison “for public and private sectors.”
He moved, seconded by Maieron, “That the recommendation made by the administration, finance and personnel committee at its meeting held on Oct. 18 regarding compensation study/economic adjustment be referred back to the committee for further information as follows:
– the private sector be included in the comparative group; and
– a proposal with data not based on the Consumer Price Index for Ontario but the actual wage practices, history and forecast for the private and public sectors in Wellington County.”
Lever also asked for a recorded vote on his motion.
Those in favour were Lever, Maieron, and councillors Jean Innes, Chris White, MacKenzie, Bruce Whale, Don McKay, Shawn Watters, George Bridge, and Chapman.
Those opposed included councillors Gary Williamson, Joanne Ross-Zuj, Gord Tosh, and Green. The motion passed 9-4.
Councillors Lynda White and Ray Tout were absent.
