By Staff
January 19, 2105
BURLINGTON, ON
What are they worth?
Are they worth what we are paying them?
Would any of them earn the same kind of money anywhere else.
Those are the questions a reasonable citizen will want to ask as they look at the pay schedule for the seven members of the city of Burlington municipal Council.
The 2013 Citizen Committee on Council Remuneration made recommendations on the method for determining the annual Council remuneration adjustment formula. Council approved that formula in November 25, 2013.
The process was to have Council compensation, expense limits and staffing requirements as follows:
You elected them – now you have to pay them. Burlington’s significant seven.
Maintain the compensation for Councillors at $53,095 per year and the Mayor at $121,676 per year (in 2014) and adjust annually on April 1 by a percentage equal to the average annual change in the all Ontario consumer price index (CPI) for the twelve month period October to September with the provision that the increase is to have the following banding:
Any increase cannot be greater than the increase determined for budget purposes for non-union staff compensation;
No increase can be granted in the event the Ontario CPI amount is less than 1%;
Any increase cannot exceed 65% of the calculated Ontario CPI percentage;
When no increase is taken in a year, the amount cannot be carried over and aggregated in future years (i.e. no carry-over of forfeited increases from any year to another);
Overall Council may adjust the calculated increase within the banding to a lesser amount than that determined while meeting the provisions. The Executive Director of Human Resources is to present information on the compensation and computation of the formula to Council in open session in January each year.
The average annual change in the Ontario CPI, October 2013 to September 2014 was 2.0%. The formula generates an increase of 1.3% (65% of 2.0%). Therefore, effective April 1, 2015, Council salaries will be as follows (if Council does not alter the formula results):
Councilor salary: from $53,095 to $53,785 Mayor salary: from $121,676 to 123,257
The Region of Halton formula averages the Ontario CPI and the Toronto CPI figures. The Regional adjustment will be based on 2.1% resulting in a salary of $47,280 effective January 1, 2015 for Regional Councillors. All seven members of Burlington’s city council are also members of the Regional council.
The Community and Corporate Services Committee will receive the report on January 2th – it will go to Council on the 26th for approval.
Salaries should be rate of inflation – no more – no less – topics like a 24 / 7 job – what one would make in the private sector – hold no water – the members sitting at council were eyes wide open when running for the job – anyone who promotes a pay increase is welcome to pay for it – OOPS – people get fired for doing a bad job – let me see Brant Street Pier – one loses a bonus or gets fired in the private sector – sorry – they all got to keep their jobs while the taxpayer is treated like an ATM
Peter,
I disagree. The city already employs a variety of experts to advise Council as needed.
The following are far more useful than any specific expertise:
intelligence; good judgment (a scarce commodity); research skills; communication skills; high ethical standards; a strong work ethic; organization skills; ability to work with others; and strong motivation to do what is best for Burlington (maybe that last one should be first…).
The salary levels for councillors and mayor should immediately be increased significantly to compensate these people for the 24/7 type of work they are currently expected to do. Higher salaries might also attract more interest from a wider and younger talent pool. In exchange however, councillors should be expected to bring at least a basic level of expertise in at least one of the following; land use planning, real estate development, facilities management, business, civil engineering, legal, etc; a CV with minimum qualifications would go a long way in justifying higher pay.
Zaffi,
A private sector corporate CEO has responsibility for profit and loss (and, by extension, the survival of the organization), while most public sector managers (there are exceptions) typically don’t. The private sector CEO’s compensation can be a function of a large and varied number of factors; e.g., the size of the organization, employment contract features, type of business, the latest salary survey results, number of friends on the board of directors, greed, opportunity, etc. Private sector managers normally require substantial formal training and experience to qualify, while politicians need only to win a popularity contest on election day. While the mayor and councillors make policy decisions and give direction to the city’s senior management, they are not required to be qualified as professional managers or to be compensated as such.
Some may have professional qualifications (mayor McIsaac was a lawyer, I believe) but there are no required qualifications for councillor and, in fact, professional qualification can interfere with the smooth functioning of the organization if it results in second-guessing or in trying to micro-manage the work of the professional and management staff.
In my opinion if one compared the job duties,responsibilities, etc of a private sector manager, in a company of comparable size, and that of a municipal counselor/mayor one would wonder why any person would chose to run for any level of public office. It is certainly not for the money.
I am not sure I have yet met a private sector CEO/CAO who’s salary is anywhere near as low as our mayor and counselors. In fact I now several in middle management earning more than a counselor and has benefits, paid vehicles, etc.
Is the old adage not “you get what you pay for.”
James,
While performance based remuneration may seem like a valid system, in fact it is the opposite, and it is even less valid when the proposed evaluators (the public) are so far removed from (and probably unfamiliar with) the work which is to be judged. Most citizens are unlikely to have had any training in performance evaluation. Performance criteria would need to be created. Who is going to do that? Re: “Make the public sector more like the private sector, where success comes to those who work hardest…” – that is a naïve statement; often success comes from favouritism/popularity or other factors completely unrelated to performance. The “private sector” is a large, complicated, and often incompetent part of the economy; we should not assume that it is somehow magically superior to the public sector and that it is a useful model to be emulated.
The only performance appraisal that counts in politics is the one held on election day; i.e., the percentage of votes for the candidates.
I’d like to see a performance based system of remuneration for the Mayor, Councillors, and just as importantly, municipal staff. They work for us, the public, so it would only be fitting if the public had more say in their worth. This isn’t a decision for unions, this is a decision for the residents of this City who provide money from their hard earned salaries to a group of people we entrust to run our City to its fullest potential. Provide a modest base salary to each, then evaluate the balance of their worth based on actual performance. Running a City is a business, so there are more than enough parameters upon which to judge one’s performance. Make the public sector more like the private sector, where success comes to those who work hardest. The strong would very quickly separate themselves from the weak, and after the weak are eliminated, we’d be left with a much more effective municipal government. I as a citizen of Burlington have no problem paying $100,000+ salaries to those who rightfully earn and deserve it.