Salary recommendations for elected municipal officials

DIEPPE (N.-B.) — In July, City Council adopted a resolution aimed at creating a working group made up of Dieppe residents with a mandate to review the salaries of City Council members.

The committee, composed of Michelyne Paulin, Robert Frenette, Camille Belliveau, Isabelle McKee Allain and Jean‑Guy Vienneau, presented its report during the October 22 city council public meeting.

The objective was to implement a framework for the remuneration of City of Dieppe's elected officials that would properly compensate them for the time and effort they put into their work, and thus attract gender and demographic diversity to its Mayor and councillor positions.

The salaries of elected officials had not been reviewed in six years. Beginning January 1, 2019, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) will implement major changes to the tax treatment of elected officials' salaries by eliminating the non-taxable allowances that all elected officials across the country were entitled to, which will contribute to a significant decrease in the net income of the City of Dieppe's elected officials. Being that this decision was imposed by the federal government without prior consultation, a review was necessary.

The working group used the methodology proposed in the elected official compensation guide by the Association francophone des municipalités du Nouveau-Brunswick (AFMNB). It also used a similar guide published by the Union des Municipalités du Québec. Data from Statistics Canada, the Government of New Brunswick and other New Brunswick municipalities was used as well.

The committee recommends that the Mayor's salary be established based on the bottom of the scale suggested by the AFMNB, that is, $78,000 per year, and that necessary salary adjustments be phased in six steps over a period of five years to bring the Mayor's salary to this amount for the 2024 municipal elections.  After the last adjustment on June 1, 2024, the Mayor's salary would be automatically adjusted according to the consumer price index for the subsequent years.

To minimize the negative impact of the changes to the CRA's regulations on the net salaries of elected officials, a salary adjustment would be made on January 1, 2019, according to the table below.

The committee also recommends that the Deputy Mayor's salary currently established at 55% of the Mayor’s salary would be established at 45%, and that the councillors' salaries be established at 40% of the Mayor's salary.  These ratios are in accordance with the recommendations from the AFMNB.

Note that these salaries represent the total remuneration of the City of Dieppe's elected officials. There will not be any additional, undisclosed remuneration or allowances.

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