Two communities in our region are at opposite ends on the issue of giving the mayor and council a pay raise this year.
Cochrane Town Council voted to defer discussion about remuneration until the end of next month during budget deliberations. Meantime, Kapuskasing town council voted a recommendation by Mayor Dave Plourde of a 2.7 per cent pay increase for 2024 using the 10 year rolling average. One of the options before council was an adjusted bump of $5,000 for mayor and 1.5 per cent for councillors.
During discussions councillor Ken Munnoch questioned while council was looking at any other proposal instead of that 10 year rolling average that they use for negotiations and other fees.
In 2022, Cochrane ranked first for base pay remuneration for mayor and council among northern communities, while Kapuskasing ranked fourth and third respectively.