Bradford councillors have voted to give themselves raises and make the role of mayor a full-time gig sooner rather than later.
Council approved an amendment to the recommendation from the resident-led council compensation review committee, which will make the mayor’s position full time and begin phasing in raises for all councillors this term, during its regular meeting on Tuesday evening, April 16.
“(The committee) clearly stated that council is under paid,” Mayor James Leduc said. “We went out and campaigned because we love this community. We work for this community, but at the same time, you need to be compensated fairly, and it starts right here at this table so we can pass those fair compensations on to everybody else in our community.”
Leduc explained council committed to bringing a Simcoe County living wage to all town employees, and the Ontario Living Wage Network currently defines a living wage in the organization’s Simcoe County region (which also includes Grey-Bruce, Perth and Huron Counties) as $22.75 per hour, which it updated on Nov. 6, from the previous $20.70 per hour.
The decision to increase council compensation came after several failed amendments, including one from the mayor that the committee’s report only be received for information and no action taken. However, after some debate, the mayor changed his position and moved to begin phasing in the changes this term instead.
The committee submitted a report to council recommending that starting in the next term of council, expected on Nov. 1, 2026, the mayor’s salary should increase by five per cent to $49,215 from $46,866, the deputy’s mayor’s salary should increase by 37 per cent to $42,852 from $31,255 and the councillors’ salaries should increase by 53 per cent to $38,093 from $24,970.
Those figures were based on a comparison of salaries for councillors, deputy mayors (where applicable) and mayors (both part time and full time) in eight municipalities with populations ranging from about 28,000 to 50,000 (based on the 2021 census) including East Gwillimbury, Georgina, Innisfil, King, New Tecumseth, Orillia, Whitchurch-Stouffville and Woodstock.
In the meantime the committee had recommended maintaining the existing salaries plus non-union cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) for the remainder of the term.
Ward 5 Coun. Peter Ferragine was in favour of receiving the report for information, but opposed any increase in council compensation.
“I knew what the council compensation was,” he said of his decision to first run for council in 2014. “It comes down to actually wanting to do good for your community.”
While he agreed with the importance of serving the community, Ward 6 Coun. Nickolas Harper felt zero increase would be too austere.
“The position needs to be a job and a privileged, not one or the other,” he said.
Deputy Mayor Raj Sandhu agreed.
“This council at least deserves to get paid what their colleagues are getting paid in surrounding municipalities. We are not,” he said.
While Ward 2 Coun. Jonathan Scott agreed with the committee's recommendation for an increase, he emphasized that shifting to the phased-in approach “would be setting a standard” for the ongoing work to review town staff salaries, with which “we would need to then follow through.”
Ward 1 Coun. Cheraldean Duhaney said she advocates for a fair wage for everyone, including councillors, who are essentially on call all hours of all days to assist residents.
However, she opposed changing the mayor’s position to full time, as she felt it would require those interested in the position to leave their existing careers, which she sees as a barrier to inclusiveness.
Based on a survey that found the mayor is working an average of 37 hours each week on town business, the committee also recommended that beginning with the next term of council, the mayor’s position should change from part time to full time, and come with a further pay increase to $88,672.
That figure was selected for being the median average of the smallest and largest salaries of the five full-time mayors in the comparison group, which ranged from $73,629 in East Gwillimbury to $104,468 in King, and saw Orillia in the middle at $88,672.
Ward 7 Coun. Peter Dykie supported the recommendation and emphasized the increased workload on the mayor as the town continues to grow, with which Sandhu agreed.
“If you want to act like a big municipality, you have to have the tools in place to be that big municipality,” he said, noting that investors and senior staff need the mayor to be available on their schedule.
The mayor provided some insight into the amount of work required to fulfill all of his duties, saying he frequently works 12-hour days to ensure everything gets done in a timely manner.
“This is a full-time role,” Leduc said, noting that if large producers like Toromont or MiTek have an issue, they need a response “ASAP.”
“You are dealing with billions of dollars across the table. There’s many decisions that have to be made quickly, and there’s no time to sit there and say ‘the mayor will get back to you,’” he said.
While an exact date for the decision to take effect has yet to be determined, that information is expected to be included in a bylaw formalizing the changes, which staff expect to present for council’s approval at a future meeting.
That could mean the changes are included beginning with the 2025 budget deliberations this fall, or it could mean they are retroactively added as an expense for 2024.
In future, the committee recommended that council compensation should be reviewed and recommendations made within the last year of each term, to allow the outgoing council to approve changes for the following term, “to ensure that openness and transparency are upheld.”
According to the report, Bradford council’s compensation was last reviewed in 2015.
