Windsor mayor amongst highest paid mayors in Ontario — or is he?

Windsor’s mayor pulled home a paycheque of nearly $220,000 in 2023, making him one of the highest paid mayors in Ontario when compared against the public sector salary disclosure list from last year.

Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens’ annual salary for 2023 came in at $219,591: his base salary was $206, 645. He also received $3,004 in retroactive amounts and had $9,941 in taxable benefits for the year, according to a city report going before council Monday, March 18.

“I work very hard for the public each and every day,” said Mayor Drew Dilkens. “I'm happy with the compensation. I'm not asking for a raise. I'm not looking for more money. I think it's properly compensated for the amount of work that's involved.”

Mayor and council pay is determined by a blue ribbon panel. Members of the public make a recommendation and council votes, usually in support of it.

“It's not something that we unilaterally decide. We take their advice. We always have taken their advice,” said Dilkens, who noted it always happens at the end of a council term, to be implemented in the next term of council.

“I’ve rarely seen a case where council and mayors say no to the recommended increase,” said Lydia Miljan, a political science professor at the University of Windsor. “So there's usually a little bit of cover that they give themselves.”

So how does Dilkens rate against other municipal leaders across Ontario? That’s a bit harder to compare.

The public sector salary disclosure list for 2023 has not yet been published, so the closest data to draw comparisons from is from the 2022 “sunshine list.”

Here’s how much other mayors in Ontario reported to the public sector salary disclosure list in 2022, including taxable benefits:

• Frank Scarpitti, the mayor of the City of Markham topped the list, making $288,512
• John Tory, Toronto’s former mayor, made $204,375
• Olivia Chow, Toronto’s current mayor, is budgeted to make $216,160 in 2023
• Rob Burton, the mayor of the Town of Oakville, made $201,795
• David West, the mayor of the City of Richmond Hill, made $194,949
• Marianne Mead Ward, the mayor of the City of Burlington, made $192,320

“For our mayor to make as much as the Toronto mayor does seem a bit odd to me,” said Miljan. “It seems that either one's being paid too much or ones being paid too little.”

Mayor Dilkens said comparing his pay to his municipal counterparts across Ontario is not an “apples to apples” exercise, because not every municipality discloses salaries in the same way Windsor does, making the list “imperfect.”

“Other municipalities often have different sources of revenue flowing to the elected officials for sitting on the hydro board or sitting on county council as examples,” said Dilkens. “They flow in independently to the individuals. What you see is what you get here in the City of Windsor.”

For example, Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie — now the leader of the Liberal Party of Ontario — showed a salary of $147,808 on the public sector salary disclosure list for 2022.

However, in total, she was compensated $293,255 when you factor in her salary from the City of Mississauga, sitting on the Peel Region council, benefits, and pay as a director on the Alectra Utilities board.

What’s even stranger, Miljan said, is the disparity between what a big city mayor makes compared to sitting members of provincial parliament, who take home a base salary of $116,500.

Lydia: “It doesn't look good for us to be giving more money to our municipal politicians than we are to our provincial politicians,” said Miljan.

For perspective, Ontario Premier Doug Ford collected $208,974 in wages for 2022.

Meantime, all 10 City of Windsor councillors collected $52,238.28 a piece in wages in 2023.

Travel Expenses

Dilkens also accrued $20,217 in travel expenses in 2023, including an $8,478 “economic development” trip to Frankfurt, Germany over four days in July.

His only other overseas trip was in August, when he spent $4,306 travelling to France for the Dieppe ceremony.

Other trips were to Toronto and London, Ont. for government meetings, municipal conferences, and forums and meetings on housing.

Windsor City Council members spent a total of $36,878.35 on travel in 2023, with the biggest expense coming from Ward 2 Coun. Fabio Costante, who claimed $7,455.88 to attend the FCM annual conference in Toronto and the Canadian Urban Transit Association annual conference in Edmonton.