Toronto City Councillors Approve 24% Salary Increase for Selves Amid Public Scrutiny

In a move that has raised public outrage, Toronto city councillors voted to award themselves a massive 24% salary increase.

The approval, which was granted during a recent council meeting, has the public and political observers wondering about the justification and appropriateness of the timing of the increase.

The approved pay rise will increase every city councillor’s salary by 24%, bringing their annual compensation above the current figure of $105,397. Although specific figures for the new salary have yet to be negotiated, the raise will allegedly push councillors’ salaries to approximately $130,000 annually.

The mayor’s salary, typically higher, will also get the same percentage increase, although actual figures have yet to be disclosed.

The advocates of the pay raise say that it was necessary to maintain city councillors well-paid for the increasingly dynamic nature of their workload.

With Toronto’s population exploding at a fantastic rate and with the complexity of urban issues, councillors are being asked to do more and more things, from managing community affairs to overseeing mega-sized infrastructure projects.

In addition, supporters of the increase contend that more pay will make the job more desirable to candidates from underrepresented groups, possibly improving diversity in city government.

While there are some members on the council who have supported the pay increase, it has received considerable criticism from the public and opposition members. Criticisms suggest that this type of increase is inappropriate under the present fiscal constraints that the city is facing.

Toronto, along with most cities, is faced with rising costs and efforts to contain the price of public sector spending. Most residents are pondering whether it is fair to have a pay increase for city workers while other areas of operation are struggling financially.

“It’s ridiculous that in a time when public services are being slashed, our elected officials think it is appropriate to reward themselves with an enormous salary raise,” said one angry citizen who attended a city hall protest. Some public interest groups have even protested, calling for more openness in the way such decisions are reached.

This latest raise is just part of a decades-long trend of salary hikes for Toronto city councillors. In 2014, a report proposed a 12.9% hike in councillors’ salaries to $119,025 from $105,397 per year. Also, back in 2009, councillors saw a 2.4% increase to $99,153.60 from $96,805 per year.

However, the optics of such increases have not always been positive. In 2018, Premier Doug Ford’s government reduced the number of city councillors from more than half of 47 to 25 in a bid intended to save money. But those savings did not materialize the way they were expected. Rather, the council budgeted office and staff budgets of approximately $532,000 each year, double that of the last budget. That generated an additional $5.7 million in costs despite having fewer councillors.

This new move by Toronto city councillors to award a 24% pay hike comes at a time when city government already enjoys low public confidence. Critics argue that this move would continue to erode public confidence in city politics at a time when many feel the priorities of elected officials no longer align with those of the public they serve.

As the city council prepares for coming elections, the vote on pay raise will definitely be a polarizing topic. Whether this increase will affect voting public or not remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: discussion of how much is too much to pay in order to reward public servants will continue to go on in Toronto.