Salaries of Halifax mayor, councillors frozen until late 2021
Pam Berman | CBC News | Posted: June 23, 2020 11:20 PM | Last Updated: June 23, 2020
'For me, it's not the time to be taking an increase in salary,' says Mayor Mike Savage
The salaries of Halifax councillors and the mayor will remain the same until November 2021.
Since 2018, their salaries have been automatically adjusted based on the year-over-year average weekly earnings increase for Nova Scotia workers, which is calculated by Statistics Canada.
In 2019, that meant a 4.3 per cent increase. Councillors now make just over $92,000 a year and the mayor receives $190,000.
But given recent budget cuts due to the pandemic, most councillors wanted to ensure salaries remained the same.
"I'm not a fan of having to weigh in on my own salary, but I think we find ourselves in a pretty unprecedented situation," said Coun. Sam Austin.
"I think under the circumstances it would be inappropriate to have a wage increase, even if that's what the formula put out."
Three councillors argued against the wage freeze: Steve Adams, Bill Karsten and Russell Walker. Adams and Karsten have already announced that they will not be reoffering for council when municipal elections take place this fall.
"We don't know if there's going to be an increase for the new council, but let the formula work," said Karsten.
Mayor Mike Savage said he was reluctant to change the formula, but the current situation is just too unusual.
"For me, it's not the time to be taking an increase in salary," he said. "We've never seen anything like COVID."
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