Toronto city councillors say they do more work and get paid less than many of their municipal colleagues across the country.
That’s the rationale behind a new staff proposal to increase councillor pay by 24 per cent — a move Mayor Olivia Chow called “a bit steep” given the city’s current financial troubles.
Councillors make $133,776 per year and are set for a 2.81 per cent bump in 2025, bringing next year’s compensation to $137,537.
The report recommends going above and beyond the normal inflation adjustment so that councillors would make $170,588 annually. The mayor currently makes $225,000.
The last time councillors received a pay raise above inflation was 2006, when salaries increased by nearly nine per cent from $87,214 to $95,000.
If the 24 per cent increase goes forward, it would cost the city just under $1 million in 2025.
Councillors aren’t bound to the proposal. They could vote for an increase of any amount or could kill the idea entirely.
Mayor Chow said the final decision is “up to the councillors.”
“Councillors are facing a lot of pressure,” Chow added. “I think there will be a robust, healthy debate.”
Chow was speaking at an unrelated announcement on Tuesday with other councillors who would be directly affected by the proposal. Some were in favour of the idea.
“The facts speak for themselves. City councillors in Toronto are underpaid when you compare them to almost any other municipality in the GTA,” said Scarborough North Coun. Jamaal Myers.
According to the report, councillors in York and Peel Region make around $20,000 more per year despite serving far fewer constituents.
The average Toronto councillor represents 124,439 people, putting their pay per constituent at $1.08, which is far lower than other municipalities.
Markham councillors, for example, make $161,054 per year and get $5.24 per constituent.
“I have the smallest ward at 100,000 people, which is about the size of the City of Peterborough,” Myers said. “I think it’s reasonable to expect that we have this debate.”
“The pay increase is overdue,” he said.
Councillors' workload dramatically increased when Premier Doug Ford cut the size of city council in 2018 from 44 wards to 25.
“I used to represent a little less than half of what I represent now,” said Humber River–Black Creek Coun. Anthony Perruzza. “Has the job changed? It has changed considerably.”
Politician pay has always been a controversial topic.
At Queen’s Park, Premier Ford recently ended a 16-year freeze on MPP’s salaries, giving them a $16,000 raise to $132,000.
Federal MPs make over $200,000 per year.
The report also recommends a process to maintain competitive salaries going forward.
If approved, the 24 per cent raise would mean Toronto councillors make more than three-quarters of politicians in similar cities.
Apart from annual raises in line with the rate of inflation, the report recommends a review at the beginning of each council term to keep council salaries in the top quarter of political pay.
