Timmins council was paid over $85,000 more in 2023 compared to the year before.
Each year municipalities must reveal how much council members were paid in salary and expenses. The numbers for Timmins council in 2023 are in and at $392,093.69, it's the highest the total has been in at least the past five years. It's $85,877 more than 2022 when the total was $306,216.18.
The remuneration report is on the agenda for tonight's (March 19) council meeting. It also includes the remuneration and expenses paid to members for committee work.
The expenses are for conferences, travel and training, though the report from chief financial officer Natalie Moore does not break down what conferences or training council members attended. It also notes that the remuneration includes taxable benefits for vehicle, mobile phone and home internet allowances.
In 2023, Mayor Michelle Boileau's salary was $101,136 and she claimed $15,587 in expenses. That puts her total council remuneration at $116,724.
Including remuneration for committees that she sits on and expenses related to those, her total for 2023 is $135,725. The highest paying committees are the Porcupine Health Unit (PHU), where the remuneration is $6,800, and the Cochrane District Social Services Administration Board (CDSSAB) at $6,740. Those totals do not include the expenses submitted for the respective committees.
In 2023, the base salary for each councillor was $27,433.11. Including expenses and committee work, the amount each councillor took home is:
- Steve Black - $38,812. He received $6,542 in council expenses, $4,511 for sitting on the Timmins Police Services board and $325 for the Mattagami Region Conservation Authority (MRCA) board.
- John Curley - $52,189. He received $12,970 in council expenses, $1,125 for sitting on the PHU board and $2,527 for the CDSSAB. As the representative for the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM), he received $2,800 in remuneration and claimed $5,333 in expenses.
- Lorne Feldman - $28,822. He received $61 in council expenses, $65 for sitting on the MRCA board and $1,263 for the CDSSAB.
- Bill Gvozdanovic - $30,804. He received $2,121 in council expenses, $650 for sitting on the MRCA board and $600 for the PHU board.
- Andrew Marks - $43,041. He received $9,059 in council expenses, $715 for sitting on the MRCA board, $675 for the PHU board, $2,379 for PHU expenses, and $2,779 for the CDSSAB.
- Kristin Murray - $39,157. She received $4,814 in council expenses, $225 for sitting on the PHU board and $1,768 for the CDSSAB.
- Cory Robin - $41,834, He received $12,077 in council expenses, $2,274 for the CDSSAB, and $50 in CDSSAB expenses.
- Rock Whissell - $39,532. He received $8,257 in council expenses, $715 for sitting on the MRCA board, $600 for the PHU and $2,527 for the CDSSAB.
This is the first full year that expenses for this term of council are being reported. In 2022, the mayor at the time stepped down and members weren't active during the election period. There is also a gap between council members being elected in October and being sworn in.
For comparison, in 2018 when there was an election the overall remuneration was $306,686. There was a more than $44,000 increase in 2019, with the overall total being $351,407. The 2019 cost is the second-highest remuneration since 2018. From 2020-22 various COVID-19 restrictions impacted travel.
The full report is available here.
Tonight's council meeting starts at 6 p.m. at city hall. Watch the meeting live online here.
