Niverville’s council gave first reading to the Staff and Council Remuneration bylaw on November 20. A proposal was made to allow for a 2.1 percent cost-of-living increase to staff payroll in 2019. Further to that, council would also see an increase in gross wages in the coming year.

According to CAO Eric King, the federal government recently announced that they would no longer be allowing for a tax exemption which could be applied to one-third of Canadian council members’ wages. Without this tax exemption, council members would be seeing a drop in net pay in 2019.

With that in mind, council’s proposal recommends that a Niverville council member’s gross pay be increased to bring them to the same net pay they would see had the federal law not been changed.

“The decision is always between trying to be as fiscally responsible as possible for the sake of the ratepayer,” says Mayor Myron Dyck,“versusensuring there is enough there to have municipal leaders that believe that what is being offered is worth their time and effort to put in. Councils all throughout the country are dealing with this.”