Ontario Premier Doug Ford blasted a latest vote by County of Simcoe council to instill pay will increase for councillors throughout an unrelated information convention Friday morning.
“It’s like the fox taking care of the henhouse. They’re all voting for their increase,” Ford stated.
Ford was in Oshawa for a well being care announcement, however in the course of the media query and reply interval, the premier was requested about faculty board spending, which led to Ford ranting about County council.
“Simcoe region, uh … councillors, I guess they’re called; I don’t even know why we have the region, but here nor there,” the premier started. “They vote themselves; get ready for this -167 per cent increase in salary. Wouldn’t that be great if we could all just increase our salary?”
The premier didn’t mince phrases on the topic.
“This has to stop,” Ford declared Friday morning. “That’s what frustrates me, when you’re wasting taxpayers money and then you’re out on the other side screaming I need more money. Stop blowing the taxpayers money and be responsible.”
This week, the County voted in favour of phasing in new-level salaries for the rest of the 2022-2026 council time period.
A press release issued earlier this week on behalf of County Warden Basil Clarke addressing the pay improve reads partially, “Our council recognized this is a challenging discussion to have; however, felt it was important to make the decision before the next election.”
Clarke said the County’s wages are “significantly behind other municipalities of similar size,” including, “This is because of making no modifications to council salaries for the previous a number of years, regardless of the continuous rise of inflation and price of residing.”
Councillors opted to progressively improve their salaries over the subsequent three years, shifting from the present price of $18,079 to a ultimate annual quantity of $47,717 by 2027.
Throughout discussions, councillors agreed present pay ranges have been outdated, having remained largely stagnant for practically 20 years.
“After a lengthy discussion at council, where many opinions and preferences were heard, it was determined that County councillors and the role of the Warden will receive incremental increases in their compensation over the next three years, which will lessen the impact on the budget, while slowly bringing the rates of compensation up to the levels of other municipalities,” the warden added.
Council additionally famous issues the present pay scale would deter new candidates from searching for elected workplace.
County Warden Basil Clarke will be part of Ontario Chronicle Senior Anchor Sarah Freemark tonight on Ontario Chronicle at 6.
This can be a creating story and shall be up to date as extra info turns into accessible.
