City council salaries questioned
The debate about what Beaconsfield’s elected officials should be paid dominated question period during Monday ’s council meeting.
With police officers watching from the back of chambers — some past council meetings have got rowdy — residents asked Mayor Georges Bourelle blunt questions about how he could justify the hikes in remunerations.
“Remuneration is a highly sensitive subject and always has been,” Bourelle said. “We govern for four years and at the end of the four years, you can evaluate our performance. We can’t hold a referendum every time we make a decision.”
Beaconsfield resident Daniel Mongeau presented council with a petition with 400 signatures opposing the hikes. Bourelle questioned the validity of the petition. He said because it was an online petition anyone could sign, not just Beaconsfield residents. He also said the information for those signing the petition was incomplete, with no contact information included.
Remunerations were calculated by Robert Lacroix, who is Beaconsfield’s director of finance and treasurer of the treasury department. He applied the calculation tool offered by the Union des municipalités du Québec (UMQ), but found the hike unreasonably high using only that tool. So he compared data from the 15 demerged Montreal Agglomeration municipalities, but found the municipal profiles too varied to be applicable to Beaconsfield. Then he compiled data from 24 Quebec municipalities with similar profiles.
The mayor’s base salary will increase by $21,516, from $47,780 to $69,296 with an expense allowance of $16,595 (the maximum allowed) for a total remuneration of $85,891.
A councillor’s base salary will increase by $4,454, from $15,920 to $20,374 with the expense allowance increasing $2,177, from $7,960 to $10,137, for a total remuneration of $30,511. As stipulated by law, a councillor’s expense allowance is one half of the base remuneration.
Lacroix took into consideration the fact that the heretofore taxfree allowance allotted to elected officials will be taxed by the federal government as of Jan. 1, 2019. He expects Quebec to follow suit. He made adjustments to offset both taxes, but if the Quebec government does not introduce the tax or if the federal tax differs from what is expected, adjustments to the remunerations will be made.
Pay-hike opponents Mike Purvis, Daniel Mongeau and Michel Rheault spoke with a reporter following question period.
“(The mayor) is thinking of the personal gain and I’m thinking of the cost to the city,” Rheault said. “This is a city of 20,000 people. (The pay raise) is too high to be justified for a city this size. (Council and the mayor) have been given two pay raises in the last five years.”
Purvis, Mongeau and Rheault could not say what they wanted the elected officials to be paid, but all agreed that what was happening was over the top.
“I have no problem with elected officials receiving a stipend, like they used to back in the day,” Purvis said. “But even taking into account a possible 50 per cent taxation (federal and provincial) it still doesn’t justify (the increase). There has to be criteria — perhaps look at the numbers of hours worked and have an hourly rate.”
“They should stay at the current (pay) and adjust for inflation,” Mongeau said.
Rheault said the mayor’s Beaconsfield remuneration does not include what he is paid for serving on the Montreal Agglomeration Finance and Administration Committee. All three said they were upset with the tone the mayor takes with citizens during question period, saying he demonstrates a lack of respect.
Bourelle told a reporter that there are opponents in the community who are working hard to get people riled up, but that they represent only a small portion of the Beaconsfield population.
He said the job of mayor in Beaconsfield is full time, with many evening and weekend functions to attend. He defended the monetary decision, saying it is important to offer enough remuneration to make entering municipal politics attractive to people raising families and still in the workforce. Many mayors in demerged municipalities are retired.
“I like to say, ‘If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys,’ ” he said.