Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
Council accepted the report from treasurer Ian Davey at this week’s committee-of-the-whole meeting on the remunerations and expenses paid to councillors and committee members in 2018 – an unusually large roster, since it includes the last of one term of council and the first of the next.
Council members were listed alphabetically, the report indicating $889.25 apiece in remuneration to new councillors Nicole Beatty, Adam Bureau and Emily Chorley. Retired mayor Gil Brocanier had $34,696.20 in remunerations and $1,147.20 in expenses. Retired councillors Debra McCarthy and Forrest Rowden collected $17,010.60 apiece in remunerations (with Rowden also claiming $1,965.65 in expenses).
Returning councillors Aaron Burchat and Brian Darling received $17,899.80 each in remunerations (neither making a claim for expenses).
John Henderson, current mayor and former deputy mayor, got $22,761.91 in remunerations and $681.35 in expenses, while current deputy mayor and former councillor Suzanne Seguin received $18,075.20 in remunerations and $1,463.05 in expenses.
Davey’s report indicated total council remuneration for 2018 was $148,022.06, with $5,527 in expenses paid.
Not all committees are paid, but Davey’s report listed expenditures for those that are.
Burchat is the only member of the Cobourg Police Services Board to get no compensation. Otherwise, Brocanier received $4,847.57 in remuneration and $1,520.87 in expenses, community member Marg Godawa received $4,524.18 in remuneration and $776.73 in expenses, community member Gayle Metson received $4,94897 in remuneration and $1,018.62 in expenses, and community member Dean Pepper received $4,809.06 in remuneration and $1,678.95 in expenses.
No councillors sit on the committee of adjustments. Members Peter Delanty, Walter Fernhout and Barry Gutteridge each receive a remuneration of $750, while Delanty and Fernhout also claimed $1,408.66 and $2,096.45 in expenses respectively. Robert Marr’s remuneration was $850.
Brocanier had three additional sources of compensation through his service on Town of Cobourg Holdings Inc. ($6,041.66), as a member of Northumberland County council ($12,470.44 with $111.45 claimed in expenses) and representing the county on the board of the Haliburton Kawartha Pine Ridge District Health Unit ($236 with expenses of $306.35 claimed).
Finally, for their service on the Ganaraska Region Conservation Authority, Darling received $440 in remuneration and $93.02 in expenses, while Rowden received $385 in remuneration and $109.31 in expenses.
Davey’s totals indicate $46,450.45 in remunerations were paid for committee service and $9,120.13 in expenses.
Overall, this works out to $194,472.51 in remunerations and $14,647.13 in expenses for 2018.
Chorley asked what expenses exactly might be claimed by members of such bodies as the committee of adjustment and Police Services Board.
These are expenses related to attending conferences like the Association of Committees of Adjustments and the Ontario Police Service Boards Association, Davey said, which one or two delegates from Cobourg attend each year.
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
