Meaford Council Chambers. Photo by Claire McCormack
Meaford council has approved a proposed 2022 Salary Framework, which includes an annual one percent raise to employees.
During council’s Committee of the Whole meeting on Nov. 29, a report was brought forward by Meaford CAO Rob Armstrong. It requested council adopt the framework with job rates reflecting the 50th percentile pay target, and undertake a market review of all roles on a 4-year basis.
The report says a salary market review was conducted by ML Consultants in 2021 to ensure the ongoing pay equity, compliance with the municipality’s pay policy, and support to ongoing recruitment and retention of top talent individuals.
The report acknowledges other municipality’s continue to stay up to date with their market reviews and regularly increase their salary percentile comparator rates.
During ML Consultants review, they assessed the competitive pay market and current pay policy, as well as the percentile target.
With this, they developed proposed job rates and adjust pay bands to ensure improved internal equity and get rid of any overlap, before implementing at the beginning of 2022.
Fourteen municipalities were studied, and were selected based on economical conditions, geography, and on the size and range of service they provide.
Comparators included Owen Sound, Wasaga Beach, Saugeen Shores, Collingwood, and Hanover.
The salary grid for Meaford consists of 17 pay bands, and the updated framework is ensuring there is internal equity for all positions in their pay bands, all female jobs have a rate equal to or greater than a man’s, and these reflect on the 50th percentile target of the pay market.
The review showed the majority of positions in Meaford, for their 2021 wage, were getting paid below the 50th percentile. The report found this to be the case, as the other comparators already held their salary review in the last five years and made adjustments where needed.
ML Consultants say these conservative recommendations will help the municipality make it into the 50th percentile of the defined pay market. They believe the recommendations are reasonable, with taking into account the scope, size and overall composition of the municipality.
The cost of all municipal salaries is over $7.5 million, and implementing the recommendations would increase the 2022 operating budget by over $127,000. Since council opted for a phased-in approach, which would instead give their employees the raise at different points of the year and not all together at the same time, that increase to the budget would instead be over $91,000.
During the meeting, council deliberated on how they would like to implement this increase to salaries, with Coun. Steven Bartley suggesting it be differed to a later date when council is in budget talks in January.
This motion was ultimately defeated, and council took the option to include a clause in the recommendation to include that phased approach.
Mayor Barb Clumpus says the staff who work for Meaford are the municipality’s greatest assets.
“We are a business, we cannot complete the service that we have determined as the standards, without recognizing the value of our staff,” says Clumpus.