Stratford’s elected officials are set to receive a pay bump when a management report from the finance and labour relations sub-committee makes its way to council January 27.
The base remuneration for the mayor, deputy mayor and councillors will go up three per cent across the board, marking the first time there has been a council remuneration review since 2019. At their November 25, 2024 meeting, council authorized that the director of corporate services, Karmen Krueger, undertake the review.
Increases will be the following, per the report:
- Mayor’s pay increases to $86,800.16
- Deputy Mayor’s pay increases to $24,333.75
- Councillors’ pay in creases to $22,390.14
The report also recommended that the per diem for three hours or less be bumped up from $60 to $75, and that for more than three hours it goes from $90 to $150 to reflect the time commitment length of the meetings. The pay increases were factored into the 2025 draft budget, resulting in a $9,200 increase over last year, but all per diem calculations were not factored in as they were not considered to have a significant impact on the budget.
The municipalities of St. Marys, Orillia, Woodstock, St. Thomas, East Gwillimbury, Cornwall and Tillsonburg were used as comparison models for the pay increases and, using the mayor’s payline, only Orillia’s ($88,767.49) exceeded Stratford. Woodstock ($83,863.53) was the next closest. For deputy mayor, both Woodstock ($39,222.45) and St. Thomas ($35,509) were significantly higher than Stratford.
The report was originally set to be discussed at the committee’s meeting January 21, but difficulties connecting the meeting to the livestream forced the postponement. The report will now be heard when council adjourns into the committee meeting this coming Monday.
