King George now being kept as Grades 7-8 school

Heritage designation approved for building

The salary for the city CAO will go from $178,436 to a maximum of $199,800 as city treasurer Sandra Clancy is promoted to the job Tuesday.

Meanwhile three newly created commissioner jobs will range in salary from $154,800 to $173,000, said CAO Allan Seabrooke at a council meeting Monday evening.

He was responding to a question from Coun. Gary Baldwin, who asked about the salary ranges for the new jobs just before council voted a final time to approve a staff restructuring.

On Tuesday Clancy takes the CAO job over from Seabrooke, who will be appointed to commissioner of community services.

The idea is to merge the five city departments that report to the city CAO into three and put a commissioner in charge of each of those three departments (instead of a director).

Commissioners will earn somewhat more than directors do, at the moment: Top salary for a director right now is $154,652.

Coun. Lesley Parnell asked staff whether that salary range will be enough to keep Peterborough competitive with other cities.

Seabrooke said yes.

“But time will tell,” he added. “With the market the way it is right now, you have to keep an eye on that.”

He also said the new structure – and competitive pay – will help with succession planning because there will be incentive for staff to move up (and probably less need to recruit people from outside City Hall for high-ranking jobs).

Also discussed by council Monday night:

Council expenses

City council voted a final time to allow themselves more money to cover their expenses, starting next year, to make up for the loss of a tax break they currently enjoy.

Starting in 2019, elected officials will no longer receive a tax break on one-third of their pay — they will have to pay income tax on their full salaries.

That means councillors will have to start keeping receipts so they can deduct expenses on their income tax — which may or may not equal the one-third tax exemption they're getting now.

To offset it, council approved a staff recommendation to give themselves an extra $1,000 a year to cover their expenses.

Right now councillors get $1,000 a year for expenses, plus another $500 to cover the cost of running ward meetings, for a yearly total of $1,500.

The plan is that councillors will get $2,500 instead, which would cost the city $10,000 more in 2019;

King George School heritage designation

Council heard that King George Public School is planning to keep Grade 7 and 8 students in the existing heritage school building on the property, even after the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board builds a new school on site.

City community services director Ken Doherty said that’s the plan, for the school – or at least that’s what the school board has in mind until enrolment declines.

Council voted a final time on Monday to place a heritage designation on the school.

But council also voted to ensure that if a developer ever wants to alter the heritage features in the interior of the building, it must be reviewed by PACAC and later be approved by council.

A new junior kindergarten to Grade 6 school is being built to replaced King George and nearby Armour Heights Public School, but the project completion has been delayed for a year because of complications.