Deep River council will hold a public meeting on its proposed pay hikes as part of its regular meeting this Wednesday night, February 15.
Three speakers have signed up to address council – Catherine Ryan, William Turner, and Larry Dumoulin – and there are two written submissions on the council agenda, one from Steve D’Eon, husband of Deep River Mayor Sue D’Eon, and the second from local resident Adrienne Hawley.
Town staff presented an updated remuneration bylaw to council in January proposing pay hikes of anywhere from 33 to almost 60 per cent for council members.
The revised figures would set the mayor’s pay at $34,265 for 2023, $19,188 for reeve, and $17,132 for each of the five councillors.
Based on the town’s existing remuneration bylaw, the mayor’s pay is currently set at $25,677 this year, with the reeve earning $14,297 and each councillor $10,731.
The increased council pay was first proposed in a report by town staff at council’s meeting December 21, based on figures from a county survey in 2018.
Council sent the report back for further review with updated figures from 2021.
In a lengthy social media post last month, Mayor D’Eon said the cost of council remuneration is a “bargain.”
“The workload is significant, the responsibility high, the social media often unpleasant and the impact of council’s decisions are of great importance,” she said.
“Deep River taxpayers receive extremely good value for a small investment in their council who represent you strategically and effectively and who will continue to do so.”
In his written submission, Steve D’Eon copied the mayor’s post with the comment, “I find the above very relevant to the topic of this public meeting.”
“Thank you for including my submission in the public record.”
Hawley’s submission was on the opposite tack, saying the proposed increases are “absolutely ludicrous.”
“I am shocked and appalled that anyone would even consider this amount as reasonable,” she added.
Hawley said the money directed to increased remuneration should be spent on the town’s “degrading infrastructure (roads, water system etc) or something else that would benefit ALL residents.”
“I am STRONGLY opposed to this proposed raise, it is a slap in the face to all residents of Deep River struggling to survive with current housing and inflation costs,” she said.
“If this raise goes through it will demonstrate to all residents of Deep River how little our politicians care for their responsibly of representing the residents’ needs.
“Even CNL employees’ inflation raises are significantly less than the actual rate of inflation.
“Politicians’ raises should be less than the people they work for, because isn’t that the point? Politicians are supposed to be working for the residents not against us.”
Wednesday’s council meeting begins at 6 pm in the council chambers at town hall. Members of the public are welcome to attend.
The meeting is also available by livestream through a link on the town website or on YouTube under “Corporation of the Town of Deep River.”
- For more local news, pick up a copy of this week’s NRT. To get the NRT delivered directly to your mail box or inbox each week, subscribe here.
