Frontenac County Council members wages to increase after next election

Jeff Green | Jun 30, 2021

Frontenac County Council members were split over their response to a report which, based on a comparison with 10 similar county governments, recommended increases in compensation for council members after the municipal election next fall.

The report by Krecklo and Associations, appeared to call for an increase of $6,000 for the County Warden, $4,000 for the each member of Council, and set the deputy warden's salary at 20% higher than a council members salary.

Currently, the county warden makes $29,400 per year, council members make $12,100, and the deputy warden makes $14,500. The salaries are the lowest or second lowest among the 10 counties that were used as a comparison group.

South Frontenac Mayor Vandewal said, as he has in the past, that he will not support an increase greater than 2% plus a cost of living increase for any position, a position that is consistent with his stance regarding all budgets in his own township and the county.

Others were not so rigid in their views.

“I don't agree with the increase to council member salaries,” said North Frontenac Mayor Ron Higgins. “Other municipalities have a lot more administrative work as compared with Frontenac. I can see the need for extra pay of the warden and deputy warden positions.”

Alan Revill, council member from South Frontenac, also agreed with the proposed increase for the warden, but thought a $1,000 increase for council members was more appropriate.

Bill Macdonald, council member from Central Frontenac, supported the increases, saying “we are always paid the lowest in the province. If we are going to attract younger people to consider running as a county councillor or even our local council, we need to put in enough money to appeal to them.

Central Frontenac Mayor Frances Smith agreed with MacDonald.

“None of us get into this for the money,” she said, “but at some point we need to stop undervaluing the work that we do.”

Before taking a vote on the proposed increases, members of council realised that they had misunderstood the recommendations in the report.

“I think the wording should be changed in the motion,” said Councillor Revill “because it reads now as if the salaries will increase each year over the four year term. For the warden that would be $6,000 the first year, $12,000 the second, and so on, until the salary rises by $24,000 in the final year of the next term over what it is now.”

“That is actually what the Krecklo report proposes” said Frontenac County Chief Administrative Officer Kelly Pender, “it uses the full term of the next council to phase in increases to bring the salaries to the 50th percentile of the 10 counties that were used for comparison.”

Under the proposal, the Frontenac County Warden would receive $53,400 per year as of 2026, in addition to their salary as Mayor of their respective township.

After hearing that, there was much less opposition to what everyone at the table had originally understood the proposal to be, a salary of $35,400 for warden starting in 2023, $16,100 for a council member, and $19,300 for deputy warden, with an increase based on the rate of inflation for the following three years of the next council.

Council also agreed to maintain other benefits, and mileage payments that they receive now, and to undertake a third party review of council compensation in the third year of the next council term, in 2025.

Ron Vandewal wanted to end the practice of reviewing the rate of compensation during each term of council, preferring to simply tie increases to the rate of inflation, but Frances Smith thought that by having a third party review every four years, some future council may make a real change.

“I disagree with Ron. At some point some people at this table are going to say enough is enough, and unless you have an outside agency pointing out that how much less we are paid than everyone else in the province who takes on the same responsibilities, we are going to get further and further behind.

Council approved the new rate of compensation, with Ron Vandewal casting the only dissenting vote.

The comparison group that was looked at by Krecklo, included the following counties: Prince Edward, Brant, Perth, Elgin, Lennox and Addington, Dufferin, Lanark, Peterborough, and Prescott Russell. The only one that pays less that Frontenac County is Perth County.

The median wage among the 10 for 2021 is $21,436 for a member of council, and $51,654 for the head of council (warden) position. Of the ten counties, only 3 have a deputy head of council position. The other two are paying around $26,000 to the Deputy Warden this year.