Wilmot committee recommends internal review of council and mayor pay

By Galen Simmons

Wilmot councillors have recommended the township proceed with an internal administrative review of council and mayor remuneration, with the final decision to be made at a future council meeting.

At its March 2 committee of the whole meeting, councillors reviewed a previously completed compensation study by human-resources consultants Pesce & Associates before voting to recommend the internal-review option to council. If approved by council, township staff will analyze compensation levels in comparable municipalities, compare that data with the information from the Pesce report, incorporate cost-of-living adjustments and bring forward recommendations for potential pay adjustments for the mayor and councillors at a council meeting later this year, before May 1.

“Council already did have a consultant report mid-term on this, so you have had, already, the benefit of that once this term,” said township CAO Jeff Willmer, reiterating council’s options for the review. “An internal administrative review would be consistent with the approach both Wellesley and Woolwich are taking this year.”

The review is required under the township’s council remuneration review policy, which mandates a review once per council term with recommendations brought forward before May 1 – the start of the nomination period for the Oct. 26 municipal election. Any changes approved through the process would take effect for the next term of council rather than the current one.

The policy outlines three possible approaches for conducting the review: forming a citizen review committee, hiring an independent consultant, or completing an internal administrative review. Each option requires benchmarking council compensation against comparable municipalities and considering factors such as base salary, benefits and allowances.

During the committee discussion, councillors weighed the merits of each option while reviewing the 2023 Pesce & Associates compensation study, which had previously been presented to council in closed session.

“At a time when (the property tax increase) last year was 18 per cent, this year it’s nine per cent, this discussion is tone deaf for most of our constituents,” Coun. Lillianne Dunstall said. “I think that having council vote, when probably most of council will be running again and some will be running for mayor, seems pretty self serving to be something that we decide ourselves. … I don’t believe that my constituents would support council getting an automatic COLA (cost of living adjustments) or much of an increase.”

“Council over the last three years, by declining any raises or COLA, equated to about $15,000 to $18,000 (in savings) over three years,” Coun. Harvir Sidhu responded. “As much as we can give ourselves a pat on the back and say, ‘We didn’t take COLA, we didn’t take a raise,’ it really didn’t move the needle much.”

Ultimately, a majority of councillors supported recommending the internal-review option, directing staff to use available comparator data and the findings of the earlier consultant report to help determine appropriate compensation levels for Wilmot’s elected officials. The administrative review approach would allow township staff to prepare recommendations in time to meet the policy’s deadline ahead of the upcoming municipal election.

“I was quite pleased with the information that was brought back forward and I know (the former clerk) had done quite a bit of work, and seeing the Pesce report again was helpful,” said Coun. Kris Wilkinson, who chaired the committee of whole meeting in Mayor Natasha Salonen’s absence. “ … We are relying on a dataset we’ve seen; we know what’s been done and we can trust our staff to come back with something that would reflect that.”

Wilkinson made it clear the remuneration review is not to consider a change in pay for the current council, but for a new council elected in October.

“We’ve lived through this for the last four years, we know what this job entails, we know what the asks are,” he continued. “So, I think its fair for us to review this, accept a report back and then make a choice and a recommendation moving forward because ultimately, if everyone is going back out, knocking on doors, looking for re-election, we’ll have to hang our hat on this decision.”

Despite it being uncomfortable, Wilkinson defended the need for council and staff to conduct a review of council pay once per term to ensure all eligible and interested candidates have the ability, financially, to dedicate the time and effort required to serve as mayor or councillor.

Wilkinson also urged the public to provide feedback to the township during the review process by emailing clerks@wilmot.ca to ensure all perspectives are taken into consideration before council makes its final decision.

When the matter was first discussed at council’s Feb. 23 meeting, Willmer outlined the three possible review options and noted time constraints could make forming a citizen committee difficult before the policy’s May 1 deadline.

Currently, the mayor’s annual salary is $39,425, while councillors earn $21,872 per year. Those rates have remained unchanged since 2023, when council voted against proposed increases, and councillors also chose not to take cost-of-living increases in 2024 and 2025.

The committee of the whole recommendation will now go to a future council meeting, where councillors will make the final decision on how the township will conduct the remuneration review.