by CONNIE TABBERT
Editor
WHITEWATER REGION – Whitewater Region council may be getting a larger increase in pay than just the annual cost of living.
Each member may receive a further increase to ensure their take-home pay from last year does not decrease.
Whitewater Region Treasurer Sean Crozier said this increase is caused by the removal of the one-third tax exemption in lieu of claiming expenses related to their duties, which was removed by the federal government for elected officials starting January 1, 2019.
To offset the loss of the one-third tax exemption elimination, an additional $11,451.72 may be added to remuneration, as agreed to by council at the Feb. 6 council meeting. Adding in the one percent COLA, a councillor and reeve will each receive $18,986, an increase from $17,425 in 2018. The mayor’s honourarium increases to $26,276 from $22,915.
This will be one of the items to be discussed at the public budget meeting scheduled for Wednesday, March 6 prior to the regular council meeting.
Mr. Crozier noted his report to council was related to three items.
The first is the financial review committee agreed that council be paid bi-monthly as opposed to monthly. This makes it easier on staff because township staff get paid twice-monthly, he said.
Secondly, the one percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will occur retroactive to Jan. 1. This is the same increase as non-union township staff, noted Chief Administrative Officer Robert Tremblay.
And finally, the one-third in lieu of expenses has been removed by the federal government.
The one percent cost-of-living adjustment for this year’s budget is $1,274.64 while to offset the one-third exemption loss will be an additional $11,451.72, for a total impact of $12,726, Mr. Crozier said.
Councillor Daryl McLaughlin questioned if the mileage will be added to the costs.
CAO Tremblay said mileage will not be included on the T4.
“The issue is that one-third of your remuneration was deemed non-taxable, due to other expenses, and that was eliminated as of January 1, 2019,” he said. “What Sean is trying to do here is ensure your net pay does not change…since all of your salary will be taxable.”
He continued, “This is to ensure that you’re not losing money in terms of your net pay.”
Coun. McLaughlin then questioned if he could deduct expenses on his taxes, such as house, phone, campaign expenses.
CAO Tremblay suggested all council members get financial advice.
Councillor Neil Nicholson questioned if other municipalities are doing this as well.
Mr. Crozier believes they are.
“I had discussions with three neighbouring municipalities, and we all kind of had the same chart in our reports, so that leads me to believe they are all considering the exact same thing,” he said.
CAO Tremblay noted Bonnechere Valley and Renfrew County have agreed to the change.
Coun. Nicholson asked if council could decline the recommendation.
“Yes,” said CAO Tremblay. “You could decide not to touch it. The interesting part is that the review by Bruce Beakley in 2016, looked at what all municipalities are being paid, and that is why you get paid what you get paid.
“If everybody else that we know of is moving to off-set the one-third, not taking it will affect what you get paid compared to the neighbouring municipalities.
“This will be subject to the budget public meeting,” he said.
The issue is what happens in the future when council remuneration has to play catch-up with other municipalities, CAO Tremblay said.
“This is not a fun thing to do, but you are obligated to review your remuneration bylaw at least once per council term,” he said. “You want to make sure that it’s maintained and you get what other councils are being remunerated for.”
Councillor Chris Olmstead said this “is quite an issue across Ontario,” as it was a discussion he had with council members at the recent Rural Ontario Municipalities Association convention. There is also a 70 percent increase on CPP and 50 percent on the Employer Health Tax, he noted.
“It’s not simply an income tax gain or grab by our federal government, but both CPP and Employer Health Tax as well,” he said. “It sounds like a lot of rural regions are moving towards making everybody whole. You can see the impact across Ontario as tens of thousands of people who were not taxed before on this portion are now being taxed.
“But, it isn’t coming out of the councillors’ pockets, it’s coming out of the taxpayers’ pockets.”
