Stephen Vance, Staff
As required by the Municipal Act, the annual statement of remuneration for Meaford’s members of council was publicly released in a report to council at their March 27 meeting.
Section 284 of the Municipal Act requires that on or before March 31st, the municipal Treasurer shall provide to the Council of the Municipality an itemized statement on remuneration and expenses paid in the previous year to each member of Council in respect of his or her services as a member of Council or any other body, including a local board. Further, the Treasurer is required to include each person appointed by the Municipality to serve as a member of any body, including local boards.
“To make light of this, this is council’s public shaming, whereas ours is the Sunshine List that gets put out,” joked Meaford Treasurer Darcy Chapman while presenting the report to council. “So we’re all in the same boat together on this, where everybody knows what we make.”
The total cost to Meaford ratepayers for council salaries, life insurance, and sundry expenses which includes costs for such things as training, transportation, and attending conferences in 2016 was $165,815.91.
Mayor Barb Clumpus earned taxable and non-taxable income in 2016 of $27,501.84 plus $507.78 in sundry expenses for a total remuneration of $28,009.62 in 2016. Meaford’s Deputy Mayor and the five councillors earned an average $23,000 in total remuneration last year (see detailed earnings in table).
In addition to the remuneration paid to councillors, municipal staff also reported that $5,160 was paid to six community members who sit on local boards.
The Treasurer noted that the intent of the public release of the remuneration paid to council is transparency.
“At the end of the day, the whole point behind this is to make sure that the public is aware of the remuneration that council’s receiving,” noted Chapman.
