By Cecilia Nasmith/Northumberland 89.7 FM/Today’s Northumberland
Cobourg Councillor Randy Barber offered a last-minute addition to the town’s 2025 budget at this week’s meeting – a raise for council.
With councillors working 30 hours a week, Barber said, that’s considered full-time work. And that being the case, councillors deserve a raise that puts them above minimum wage.
His calculation is that councillors get $17 an hour, and current Ontario minimum wage is $17.20. His motion calls for a 3% increase, which works out to $17.51 per hour or – on an annual basis – $31,868 per councillor. As for the Mayor and Deputy Mayor, the motion said, they should get the same percentage of a raise.
“I have, I think, a fairly standard view of the kind of work that we do, and the value of our work. I happen to personally think it’s quite a considerable bit, more than $17.20 an hour, but I also believe in small steps,” Barber said.
“I think there’s an opportunity here to at least keep us up to what the minimum wage in Ontario is.”
Municipal Clerk Brent Larmer pointed out that any change in compensation requires amendment to the Remuneration Bylaw, which can be adjusted at a later time.
Larmer also pointed out that this bylaw would have required a look, next year, at comparative council remuneration for a review to help determine the salaries of the incoming council contingent following the 2026 municipal elections.
