The Fredericton City Council wants to increase wages for the mayor, deputy mayor and councillors — but officials say the changes won’t increase their bottom line.
“The reality is the federal government changed the tax rules, eliminated a tax free allowance that covered a third of our salary and so it’s just become more expensive for the city to pay council the same net pay,” said Greg Ericson, councillor for Ward 8.
At the moment, Fredericton’s mayor makes $53,192.00 annually, the deputy mayor takes home $22,163.35 and councilors make $17,730.67.
Compare those wages to Saint John, where all three positions make annual salaries almost 50 per cent larger than their Fredericton counterparts
The Saint John New Brunswick Mayor makes $88,000.00 a year the Deputy Mayor $42,600.00 and councilors make $32,600.00.
Ericson says the changes would equate to around 40 thousand dollars a year from the city budget
“We’ve asked city staff to draft a bylaw in order to make council’s pay equivalent to what it was prior to the 2019 tax changes,” he said.
But residents don’t think the funds should come from the city budget
“They’re just going to have to suck it up like the rest of us,” said one resident.
Other said that the federal government should’ve left the credit for New Brunswickers due to the limited finances of the population.
“I don’t think its fair for them to increase taxes in order for them to maintain their salary,” said another citizen.
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If the proposed bylaw gets accepted, the salary for the mayor would increase by $9,683.00, the deputy mayor would go up by $4,036.65 and councilors would see an extra $3,229.33.
The changes would equate to around $40,000 a year from the city budget.
City council hopes maintaining the salaries of elected officials will attract more qualified candidates.
But for now, the city would like to have an economic analysis of the situation.
“We’re going to do a comparative study of other municipal councils receive in the province, and we’re going to get a third party objective study done on these wage levels around the province,” said Ericson.
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