By: Pam Wright, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Chatham Voice
Chatham-Kent council is giving their next version a raise.
Councillors voted recently in favour of the $1,840 per councillor per year increase, which comes into effect for the 2026-30 team that takes office after the Oct. 26 municipal election.
The decision was approved in a six-part, following a presentation led by Wendy Vercauteren. Vercauteren, a member of the volunteer council compensation review committee, was joined by Scott McCharles and Lisa Roberts on the panel.
According to Vercauteren the recommendations will add “zero additional burden” to taxpayers, as savings will be made when council shrinks from its current size of 17 members to 14. The mayor’s position remains the same.
Vercauteren said the strategy is to use $128,379 in savings to fund “competitive remuneration,” creating a “leaner, more streamlined council.” The committee’s recommendations come from researching comparative municipalities, attracting high-calibre leadership, acknowledging the financial position of C-K constituents and a confidential survey from current members of council.
The median personal income in Chatham-Kent is $41,630, council heard.
Compare that to what C-K’s elected officials make. In 2025, the base honorarium for each councillor was $41,921, as well as honorarium-related benefits of $3,103. After the election later this year, councillors will take home $43,761, and will make more than $49,000 in the final year of that term. The first and last years are to be pro-rated.
Last year the mayor pocketed $132,632 in honorariums, plus $22,561 in honorarium-related benefits. By the end of the 2026-30 term C-K’s top elected official will make just under $140,000 a year, based on an annual hike of $1,840.
“We decided early on that any recommendation that we were making must be fiscally defensive and taxpayer neutral and we were committed to a process that was inclusive, evidence-based and fiscally responsible,” Vercauteren said.
During their research, the committee decided to omit the City of London from the comparator group and added Kawartha Lakes and Norfolk County.
London was excluded, as it is transitioning to full-time councillors and has a population five times that of Chatham-Kent.
According to the committee, Chatham-Kent was the “costliest” council in the comparator group – $64,000 more than City of Guelph which was next on the list.
It also discovered the mayor’s base remuneration exceeded the median when eliminating the City of Windsor, and was $31,691 above that of the mayor of Thunder Bay, the closest municipality in population to C-K.
Downsizing will make Chatham-Kent council the fourth most expensive in the group, Vercauteren said. Council also has the lowest ratio of councillor to constituents at 7,709 constituents per councillor. Even with the reduction, C-K council will still have the smallest councillor-to-constituent ratio.
The committee also recommended that funds be set aside for training and education for new councillors.
Some members of council were opposed to the changes, voting against the recommendations.
South Kent Coun. Ryan Doyle asked that the motion’s recommendations be voted on separately.
They include:
- An annual increase of $1,840 for the mayor was approved 10-5 with councillors Michael Bondy; Doyle, Amy Finn, Rhonda Jubenville and John Wright voting against. Councillors Trevor Thompson and Carmen McGregor were absent from the meeting and councillor Conor Allin attended virtually.
- A fixed $1,840 increase per year for each councillor was given the green light in a 9-6 vote. Those opposed included Bondy, Doyle, Finn, Jubenville, Wright and Alysson Storey.
- An annual health-care spending account of $1,420 was approved 10-5 with Bondy, Doyle, Finn, Jubenville and Anthony Ceccacci voting against it.
- An updated meal allowance for each councillor was approved 11-5; ($15 for breakfast, $25 for lunch and $40 for dinner.) Those opposed included Bondy, Doyle, Finn, Jubenville and Wright.
- A new councillor training fund of $3,500 was passed, with Ceccacci and Doyle voting no.
- Council also agreed that any remaining funds be allocated towards a budget for attending conferences, with councillors Doyle, Finn and Jubenville voting against.
