An outside committee reviewing pay for London city councilors will suggest predictable, predetermined annual raises in a bid to end yearly squabbling.
An outside committee reviewing pay for London city councilors will suggest predictable, predetermined annual raises in a bid to end yearly squabbling.
The council compensation review task force hopes to stick with the “made in London” solution adopted last term that ties councilors’ pay to the city’s median full-time income, as assessed by Statistics Canada. But that solution, which gave this city council a $367 pay increase last year, still created debates because of inflationary raises. Those are tied to the consumer price index or the labor index, whichever is lower.
“There has been some concern expressed both by the public and by councilors, that every year, the (debate) reopens,” retired lawyer Dan Ross, chair of the task force, said. “What we looked at is something we could include that would make the decision stand for four years without having to be revisited annually by council.”
The task force plans a meeting to seek input from the public, but it will suggest council pay for each term be increased according to a four-year model.
Increases would be given each year over a four-year council term.
“You would have everything you need to govern compensation for the term. It would be automatic and basically pre-determined,” Ross said.
City councilors earned $52,725 last year.
“I’m quite happy with the course we’re on in terms of sticking with the made-in-London solution. I think this is buttressed by the results of the survey that went to councilors as well,” task force member Joe Lyons, director of Western University’s local government program, said Friday.
Nine of 14 councilors responded to the anonymous survey. Seven said cost of living raises should be automatic and not be reviewed and decided by council.
Six supported the task force suggestion for annual indexing based on the change in the median full-time income in London over the last census period.
About three-quarters of Londoners who responded to the survey, roughly 150 people, said councilors are appropriately compensated or underpaid.
About 32 per cent said councilors are paid appropriately, 42 per cent said they are underpaid and 26 per cent said councilors are overpaid.
Some suggested pay should be based on performance or on an hourly wage, which the task force rejected.
“This is not a typical job. It’s not a job the way many in the public think about their job, with a manager and performance evaluations. I don’t see how you could realistically measure performance. The same goes for an hourly wage,” said human resources consultant Jeff Tudhope.