Health benefits for councillors eyed

Review of council pay proposes keeping pay rates same, with inflation increases

City staff have reviewed council pay for the next term of office and think it should remain the same as it is now — but with health benefits.

Benefits for dental care and prescriptions, for example, aren’t currently extended to council and would cost the city anywhere from about $20,000 to $44,000 annually, according to a new city staff report, depending on the mix of single and family plans.

Councillors now each earn a base pay of $33,839 annually, plus they get a home internet allowance of $600 and are eligible to have their expenses paid when they travel on city business. Councillors also receive cellphones, computers and other IT devices from the city.

The mayor receives a base pay of $86,384 plus car allowance, internet allowance and pay for serving on boards such as the police board. Mayor Diane Therrien earned $104,345.54 in 2019.

The new city staff report doesn’t recommend a change in pay for next term — which means for the incoming council that will serve from 2022 until 2026.

City staff offers the same recommendation made by a citizens committee in 2017 that pay for city council ought to remain stable, with increases only to keep up with inflation.

In 2017, council also voted to have an automatic review done of council’s pay in the second year of the term — with changes in salary emerging from a review applying only to the next council.

The citizens’ committee had reviewed council pay in a series of comparably sized cities in 2017, the new report states — and staff has now updated the comparison using the same cities.

The new report — which used nine cities such as Kingston, Barrie and Timmins as comparators — found Peterborough ranking seventh in terms of how much it pays its council.

But when factors such as median family income are considered, the report states, Peterborough ranks in the middle of the pack.

Median family income in Peterborough is listed at $60,413, whereas the average median income of the comparator cities is $98,987. However the report recommends adding health benefits because seven of the eight comparator cities (Peterborough excluded) offer that to their councils.