Welland council delays salary increase to 2024 budget

Welland elected officials postponed a pay raise that would have added $31,121 to the 2023 budget, saying a 2022 report must first be presented to council.

The increase, which Ward 3 Coun. John Chiocchio describes it as an “economic adjustment”, would have seen councilors earn $29,462 and the mayor $82,069.

The councilors earned $18,981 and the mayor $72,995 and received cost-of-living increases over the years before a consultant reviewed annual salaries.

In 2020, a consultant recommended a raise, and the council at the time voted on its own for the 47% pay hike, with councilors’ salaries increased from $18,981 to $27,884 and the mayor’s salary to $76,208 instead of $72,995.

Councilors had won cost-of-living increases over the years, but it had been three decades since the last official pay review took place in the Pink City.

Shortly thereafter, the council formed a compensation review committee in 2022 with residents Tristan Urquhart, senior consultant Sharmila Setaram (now ward councillor) and business owner James Takeo.

Last May, he submitted a report recommending a new raise equal to the economic raises of the non-union employee group starting January 1 of each year beginning in 2024, but the decision was deferred and sent to the review committee. from the budget.

On Thursday, members of the budget review committee discussed the increase, which was among the items listed in the 2023 budget.

District 4 Com. Tony DiMarco said his phone rang regularly and he received emails all the time whenever a debate over a pay rise came up.

He objected to the 47% jump in 2020 and said councilors knew what they were getting into when they registered to run for office.

DiMarco requested that the proposed increase be removed from the budget.

Chiocchio asked HR manager Andrea Daisley about the 2022 report, and she said the citizen-led committee had recommended a 2.5% adjustment to council salaries for 2021, 2022 and 2023.

The councilor pointed out that it was a group of citizens and not the council that had recommended the increase.

He asked what the $31,121 would equate to splitting among the 13 members sitting around the council chamber and was told it was about $2,100 per person.

District 2 Com. David McLeod said the May 2022 report had been referred to the budget review committee and the new city council.

β€œIt has not been approved by this board,” he said.

McLeod said the budget review committee did not review the 2022 report recommending the increase.

“We have to weigh in…we can’t include something the board hasn’t approved,” he said.

Chairman of the Budget Review Committee and Ward 6 Coun. Bonnie Fokkens said Thursday’s meeting was the right time and place to discuss the increase and councilors had the opportunity to ask staff questions about the report before budget deliberations began.

District 1 Com. Adam Moote said the increase did not belong in the budget.

He said that although it was forwarded to the committee, the advisers, two of whom are rookies, must review the report and review it first.

Fokkens said if councilors refused the raise, the report could be presented to council.

“The council will decide where the funding will come from,” she said.

Although they don’t receive a raise, Welland councilors remain the highest-paid lower-tier reps in the Niagara region, receiving $27,884 a year in base salary.

The Ville Rose, which has 52,000 inhabitants, has a municipal council made up of 12 members plus the mayor. It is the third largest municipality in the Niagara region behind St. Catharines, with 141,000 residents, and Niagara Falls, with 95,000 residents.

In 2022, the base salary for councilors in St. Catharines, which is also made up of 12 members and a mayor, was $24,938. The base salary for councilors in Niagara Falls, where the city council is made up of seven members plus the mayor, was $26,470.08 a year.

A motion to remove the Welland council hike from the budget and defer it to the 2024 process has been passed.

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