Tecumseh Town Council will debate Tuesday night whether or not to approve a pay increase for management and non-union staff, including members of Town Council.
An administration report going to Council recommends that an annual economic adjustment for 2022 of two per cent be approved, effective Jan. 1, 2022, for the Management and Non-union Administrative Staff Wage Grid.
If approved, it would include a two per cent pay increase for the mayor, a 0.5 per cent increase for the deputy mayor and a one per cent increase for councillors.
Councillor Andrew Dowie says the percentages are different depending on the position on council.
"That stems from a report a few years ago, where it was found compensation levels were above the peers of other municipalities at the time. So council took action to bring the pay more inline with the peers," he says. "It's being brought down on a more gradual basis, so as a councillor the increase is one per cent versus for the mayor, two per cent. That's to bring that council pay down relative to the comparators."
Dowie says the main thing is to be equitable with the staff in decision making.
"Certainly given our successful union negotiations, on the surface this would be a reasonable accommodation for the non-union staff given that it's the same what the union staff was able to negotiate," he says.
The collective agreements with unionized staff with the town, represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees, includes a pay increase of two per cent in each of the years 2022 to 2024.
Tecumseh Town Council meets at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
With files from Rob Hindi