Our Council recognized this is a challenging discussion to have; however, felt it was important to make the decision before the next election.
Simply put, the previous rate of compensation for our Councillors and heads of Council was significantly behind other municipalities of similar size, service delivery and governing oversight. This is due to making no changes to Council salaries for the past several years, despite the continual rise of inflation and cost of living.
We want to attract the best candidates to enter into local and county government, including those who may still be in the workforce and who further represent the demographics of our growing County, and to do that Council felt that compensation needed to be adjusted to the levels of other municipalities.
After a lengthy discussion at Council, where many opinions and preferences were heard, it was determined that County Councillors and the role of the Warden will receive incremental increases in their compensation over the next three years, which will lesson the impact on the budget, while slowly bringing the rates of compensation up to the levels of other municipalities.
As this occurs, we will continue to work through the legislative process to approve an appointed, full-time Warden starting in the 2026 term.
~ Warden Basil Clarke