Stratford mayor, councilors may get slight pay hike

Stratford council members may soon be getting a raise.

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The city’s finance and labor relations subcommittee, including four councillors, is set to discuss a three per cent increase to council remuneration, as well as a hike to their per diem for meetings at next Tuesday’s meeting.

If approved, the increases would add up to a combined $9,200 base remuneration increase over 2024, which was already factored into Stratford’s 2025 draft budget. The new potential base salary is as follows:

• Mayor: $86,800.16;
• Deputy mayor: $24,333.75; and
• Advisors: $22,390.14.

Council members do not receive health benefits but instead collect an extra $4,000 on top of their base pay. Mayor and council pay has increased during the current term. In 2021, during Dan Mathieson’s final full year as mayor, his base pay was $79,407 while then-deputy mayor Martin Ritsma was paid $22,313 and councilors received $20,530.

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In 2023, the first full year of the new council, Ritsma’s base pay was bumped to $82,433, Deputy Mayor Harjinder Nijjar’s received $23,188 and the base pay for other council members was $21,304.

Although the current council remuneration bylaw states that any increase should be indexed to inflation, a different calculation was used in 2021 and 2022, when inflation was between five and eight per cent.

In her report, director of corporate services Karmen Krueger outlines how Stratford compares to several other municipalities of similar sizes. in 2024, Ritsma’s salary and allowable expense were $85,318, and he had a $3,000 training allowance.

In comparison, the mayors of the following cities earned a range of salaries.

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• Orillia (population 34,000): $88,767.49 with allowable expenses included in 2024
• Woodstock (population 46,705): $83,863.53 with allowable expenses included in 2023;
• St. Thomas (population 42,840): $59,496 with allowable expenses included in 2023;
• East Gwillimbury (population 39,000): $75,468.70 plus allowable expenses of $5,000 in 2024; and
• Cornwall (population 47,845): $55,269, plus $5,000 in allowable expenses, $25,000 of training shared by other councilors in 2024. Cornwall’s mayor also received $5,330.29 in RRSP payments in 2024.

The report that will be presented to the subcommittee also suggests per-diem increases based on the length of meetings. If approved, the per diem would increase from $60 to $75 for meetings less than three hours, and from $90 to $150 for meetings more than three hours. These costs have not yet been included in the draft budget. However, according to Krueger’s report “these increases are not expected to create a significant variance to the proposed draft budget.”

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Councilors are also paid for attending meetings of local boards or other bodies they have been appointed to, or on which they serve as ex-officio members, excepting council, standing committees and subcommittees of council. However, any fee they receive from these boards is paid to the city.

Council members do not receive remuneration for attending other meetings, including:

• Presentations by consultants;
• Open Houses;
• Public consultations;
• Visioning sessions; and
• Ceremonial functions.

Council is set to discuss the changes at its Feb. 10 council meeting, when they will consider this new council remuneration bylaw. Any approved changes would be retroactive to Jan. 1, 2025.

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