No more tax-free salary for Kitchener councillors

KITCHENER — Kitchener councillors voted unanimously to remove the tax-free portion of their municipal salaries Monday, something they have resisted doing for 14 years.

Councillors approved the change without comment at a finance meeting Monday. The move, which was mandated by the federal government, will cost the municipality $159,000 when it comes into effect in 2019.

The move will bump up Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic’s salary from $78,809 to $98,960 and will boost councillors’ pay from $40,545 to $50,912. Kitchener’s mayor, like all other mayors in the region, also collects $57,493 for serving on regional council.

Ottawa eliminated the tax-free allowance in this spring’s budget, saying the tax exemption for elected members of provincial legislatures, municipal councils and utility commissions will disappear on Jan. 1, 2019.

All municipal council salaries in Ontario used to be one-third tax-free to help cover the expenses that went along with holding a public office. But because most municipalities now pay for any expenses that councillors incur, the province changed the rules in 2003, allowing municipalities to get rid of the tax-free provision and make council salaries more comparable to most other salaries. Councils must vote every term to continue the tax-free exemption.

The region is the only one of the eight municipal councils in Waterloo Region that fully taxes its council salaries. The region opted to eliminate the tax-fee exemption in 2003, “to make the salaries of Region of Waterloo elected officials absolutely clear to the public,” it said at the time.