Councillors in St. Stephen will soon see annual pay increases based on inflation.
During their Feb. 26 meeting, council approved an updated bylaw to allow for cost-of-living adjustments.
However, the current council will not see any pay hikes as a result of the bylaw changes. That is because the changes will not take effect until after the next municipal election in late 2026.
During the November council meeting, a citizen questioned the addition of a “cost of living” increase that would automatically be applied every January.
“I think that does set an unrealistic expectation and sort of an attitude of entitlement,” said Chandra Best, a resident of the municipality who spoke during the meeting’s public comment period.
“I also wanted to note that the document that we see now has no requirement for any kind of a review process. It has no requirement for any type of a performance, not even if you look at the procedure bylaw or the code of conduct.”
Best did explain she understood the commitment of council and the need to attract new and younger people to the council chamber, but suggested amendments to the bylaw in line with performance.
“I’ve been sitting here for 20 years, and I got my feelings hurt tonight,” Coun. Marg Harding said during the November meeting.
“I don’t think that we’re making too much money, I think that we come in, we do a job. I know at my house, my phone rings and my doorbell rings 24/7.”
Similar sentiments were echoed by Coun. Joyce Wright. She suggested adjusting the bylaw to only take effect in 2026 after the next set of municipal elections.
Wright took issue with the idea of performance metrics for the council, as well.
“This is not a performance metric,” she said. “Our performance metric is when we’re voted on. And in 18 months, it could be that none of the nine of us sitting around this table even run for re-election.”
During amalgamation, a transition facilitator assigned to this region decided what council should be paid and there was a formula that included various factors like geography, population and responsibilities.
In December 2022, the mayor saw an increase from about $16,700 annually to $37,000, while the deputy mayor saw an increase from $9,800 to $22,000 annually.
Councillors also saw a raise, climbing from $8,300 to $17,000 per year, but the new bylaw did not carry over the automatic increase. That rate has not changed since the bylaw was put in place.
With files from the Local Journalism Initiative/The Courier
