Should Windsor City Council be considered a full-time job with full-time pay?

A report on compensation for Windsor City Council and the mayor came before those very elected officials Monday, raising the age-old question: should Windsor’s part-time councillors be considered full-time employees?

Councillors in the City of Windsor currently make roughly $52,000 per year and are considered part-time employees.

“$52,000 for a part time job, I think is a lot of money,” said Ward 1 Coun. Fred Francis, who notes the job will remain part-time through this term of council. But he believes it’s a matter of time before council goes down the road of classifying councillors as full-time.

“I would not be surprised if the discussion or some kind of formal report comes to council, this term, for next term, for full-time council. That wouldn't surprise me one bit,” he said. “And that's why I'm speaking out against it now, before it comes in, just to make my feelings known.”

Francis believes the debate was accelerated when meetings were moved from 4 p.m. to 10 a.m. to do work during business hours.

The councillor worries it would come with a huge pay bump, costing taxpayers twice as much. Money aside, he doesn’t think it’s good for diversity around the table.

“How many people, particularly in the age range of 35 to 55, would you exclude from potentially running for council, because they're just not going to give up their jobs or their professions to run for council?” Francis asked. “I think it takes more from the taxpayers. I think it excludes people from being on council. And quite frankly, I don't think it's necessary to do the job.”

Others believe the job already looks like a full-time position, based on the number of hours worked.

“I can tell you it's a full-time job. For me and it's a full-time job, for pretty much every other councillor out there as well,” said Ward 4 Coun. Mark McKenzie, who said any change to the job classification would require an outside committee to run comparators to other municipalities.

“I guarantee that sooner or later, it is going to be a full-time position,” McKenzie said. “It's a matter of is it going to happen this term, the next term or the one after that?”

McKenzie noted the city’s population is growing at a quick rate and some cities of similar size do have full-time councillors.

He also believes the community should have a say during any consultation.

“Maybe that's something we do need to look at, you know?” he said. “If the residents flat out say ‘You know what, you don't deserve it,’ then then I'm okay with that,” he said.

A majority of cities with a population in excess of 250,000 have full-time councillors. Toronto, Ottawa and Hamilton classify their councillors as full-time and they’re compensated, in some cases, double what Windsor’s part-timers make.

“You would think that it would double the salaries if they're going to be compensated as full-time salaries and that is a big hit to the city budgets,” said Lydia Miljan, a political scientist at the University of Windsor.

Miljan is not a fan of full-time councillors because she said it gives them more opportunity to shake hands and go to photo ops, giving incumbents free media and an even greater advantage during an election campaign.

“We want competitive elections and so by having them paid more, you are almost incentivizing more of the campaigning rather than the working,” she said.

Previous discussions about compensation for elected officials at city hall have been led by a blue-ribbon panel of community members and is then voted upon by members of council, with any changes implemented in the next term of council.