Sault Ste. Marie to quash $2K retiree death benefit

City council in Sault Ste. Marie has voted to scrap what's known as the retiree death benefit, which sees the family of retired city workers receive $2,000 when they pass away.

In the last three years, the city has paid out $82,000 in benefits.

Sault Ste. Marie Mayor Christian Provenzano said the policy might have made sense in decades past, but not any more.

"I brought it up because I sign these cheques. And I saw how many I was signing," she said during a council meeting Monday night.

"I felt, in the context of how we're paying people, frankly, city staff work hard and we have great staff, but they're well paid."

Sault Ste. Marie city councillor Joe Krmpotich was the lone vote against scrapping the death benefit.

He warned that at least one of the city's 10 unions is planning to take this to arbitration.

"I'm not so sure we want to have a fight with the unions right now," Krmpotich said.

"I'm also concerned about having a two-tier system, where retirees going forward won't be able to have this benefit."

That two-tier system exists because current Sault Ste. Marie city workers will still be entitled to the death benefit.