STEPHEN RICCIO
PONTIAC July 7, 2020
The Municipality of Pontiac council meeting that took place on July 7 went without the tabling of a motion that some residents are in disagreement with.
That motion is regarding bylaw 03-20, of which the draft was shared with the public after the June 9 council meeting. During that meeting, the council gave notice that there would be . . .
a vote during the July meeting. This bylaw is about the remuneration policy for elected officials in the municipality, and it was drafted as a response to legislative adjustments from the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA) that took effect in January 2019, according to Mayor Joanne Labadie, who spoke to The Equity after the meeting.
These CRA adjustments made it so that elected officials’ allowance would become taxable as an inclusion with their income.
Labadie said that because this allowance would typically amount to 1/3 of council members base salary, these changes made it so that members of council were taking less money home than before. The policy was not an immediate priority because of the spring flooding in 2019, but Labadie said that it became a goal by last summer to come up with a fair bylaw. After creating one, then having then-new Director General Pierre Said review and find errors has pushed the tabling of the bylaw to the present.
As stated on the draft, the bylaw would compensate the mayor and councillors with the expenditure allowance roughly equalling their base remuneration pay, retroactively to Jan. 1, 2020. It would also instate a bonus for committee participation, with $45 being given out to all council members for every committee meeting attended.
Joan Belsher, a resident, asked a question to the council about why this policy was being tabled. She cited a resident poll where 100 per cent of respondents were against the pay increase that accompanies the bylaw. Belsher’s question also mentioned that voting in favour of the bylaw would be disrespectful towards residents who have suffered from financial difficulty as a result of COVID-19, and ended by pointing out that councillors had previously said that they didn’t run for financial gain.
“Council has received a copy of the survey that you speak of, however the bylaw’s not being tabled tonight’s agenda, it’s going back to table for further review,” Labadie responded before thanking Belsher for the question.
Speaking after the meeting about the bylaw in question, Labadie defended it.
“It was a way of compensating councillors without increasing salary,” she said.
Labadie also said the committees are where councillors get to work and that committee work is part of the culture this council has brought in. Labadie herself is considered a member of every committee, but she would not necessarily always attend and therefore not be compensated.
The bylaw draft said that there would be a cap of three paid members per committee, this includes the mayor, and a maximum of 100 meetings redeemable per year for all of the committees combined.
Labadie said that committees would not necessarily meet on a scheduled basis, but more so based on what is needed. She added that the municipality has an annual $9 million budget, and that the committee remuneration allotment is $14,000.
