(Photo: Quinte News / File)
Council in Brighton hasn’t undertaken a significant review of their remuneration since 2012 and with changes now in place which remove a tax exemption, staff feel the time has come to take a deeper look into council’s re-reimbursement.
In March 2017, the Federal Budget presented plans to remove the tax exemptions for municipal councils.
The justification of the change was that out-of-pocket expenses are typically covered through expense reimbursement, and that salaries should be 100% taxable.
A growing number of municipalities have started to take steps towards addressing this change in taxation, with the vast majority pursuing a gross-up arrangement.
In such cases, the loss of net pay experienced by Council Members would be addressed by adding additional gross payroll costs so that, once taxes are applied, the net take home pay is not negatively impacted.
Brighton would adjust the Mayor salary by $2,682.95 to address the average comparator adjustment necessary and to address the reduction in net pay related to removal of the 1/3 tax free exemption.
Deputy Mayor salary would be adjusted by $7,159.06 and councilor salaries would increase by $1,809.20.
The resulting 2019 salaries will be as follows: Mayor: $31,436.03, Deputy Mayor: $24,671.50, Councillor: $16,479.68.
The increases would see the overall budget increase by $18,000-$25,000.
