Town of Newmarket council cost taxpayers $848,898 in 2023, more than $50,000 more than the previous year.
The municipality released its annual council remuneration and expenses report this month. The seven members of Newmarket council collectively earned $794,447 in remuneration and benefits, while claiming $54,451 in expenses to come up to the total in 2023.
Pay rates bumped up for councillors by just over $100,000 from the previous year, while the mayor was paid about $14,000 more, and the deputy mayor paid about $15,000 more.
This was largely driven by a decision from council in March 2023, when staff recommended bigger pay bumps to the mayor and deputy mayor positions based on a comparison with 13 similar municipalities.
“That there have been a number of times where pay increases were deferred," Newmarket Mayor John Taylor said at that time. “It’s not surprising that, eventually, we’re going to discover that we’re at the low end of the pay range.”
The report outlines how much council and committee members make each year and is submitted by all municipalities by the end of March, as required by the Municipal Act.
Other municipalities have had more reluctance and debate regarding pay increases. Aurora Mayor Tom Mrakas has recently used strong mayor powers to halt pay increases for that council.
Newmarket council members received pay packages of $53,215, along with a benefit package of about $24,602, though some council members were slightly above or below that in benefits. The mayor and deputy mayor had benefits of $40,767 and $29,054, respectively.
Here is a list of council’s pay and expenses:
- Mayor John Taylor — $6,462 expenses, $162,326 in total (2022 total: $148,167)
- Deputy Mayor and Regional Councillor Tom Vegh — $5,904 expenses, $109,287 in total (2022 total: $88,324)
- Ward 7 Christina Bisanz — $6,914 expenses, $80,732 total (2022 total: $76,040)
- Ward 6 Kelly Broome —$6,406 expenses, $82,818 total (2022 total: $79,269)
- Ward 5 Bob Kwapis — $9,440 expenses, $87,258 total (2022 total: $82,948)
- Ward 4 Trevor Morrison — $6,150 expenses, $83,968 total (2022 total: $77,736)
- Ward 1 Grace Simon —$5,464 expenses, $83,282 total (2022 total: $79,993)
- Ward 3 Jane Twinney — $4,188 expenses, $82,006 total (2022 total: $77,722)
- Ward 2 Victor Woodhouse —$3,520 expenses, $77,219 total (2022 total: $73,884)
Expenses were also up among council members, with claims tallying $38,460 in 2022. Expenses range from event tickets, sponsorships, transportation and conferences.
Taylor’s largest expenses included $1,103 to register for the City Nation Place Conference, which also racked up his largest travel expenses, along with $1,608 for fuel and vehicle maintenance. He spent 36.67 per cent of his allotted town expense budget of $17,625. He also had $3,833 of region-related expenses, which included AMO conferences and Ottawa meetings.
Vegh’s largest expenses included $700 in gift cards for volunteer translators and $443 for holiday chocolates for staff and volunteers. He spent 78.55 per cent of his allotted expense budget. He also had $5,512 in expenses as a regional councillor, which included registration and transportation to three conferences.
Woodhouse’s expenses included four separate instances of $457 for website administration and management and $432 to an ice cream company for a community event. He spent 51.3 per cent of his allotted expense budget.
Twinney’s expenses included $1,002 for a Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference, $984 for ice cream for a community event and $424 for holiday cards. She spent 61 per cent of her expense budget.
Morrison’s expenses included $1,562 to GFL Environmental for a Ward 4 cleanup event, more than $2,000 for registration and accommodation for the FCM conference and $765 for ice cream for a community event. He spent 89.63 per cent of his expense budget.
Simon’s expenses included $1,526 for a Ward 1 cleanup event, $1,180 for a waste disposal event and $586 in neighbourhood mail. She spent 76.63 per cent of her expense budget.
Kwapis’s expenses included $818 for event signs, more than $1,700 in expenses for an AMO conference and $626 for neighbourhood mail. He spent 93.15 per cent of his expense budget. He also had $3,048 worth of expenses for his representation of Newmarket on the Ontario Small Urban Caucus.
Broome’s expenses included $2,190 for community meeting postcards, $1,628 for the A Million Mouthfuls community event and $667 for an accessible website fee. She spent 93.3 per cent of her expense budget.
Bisanz’s expenses included more than $2,000 in expenses for the FCM conference, more than $1,500 in expenses for the AMO conference and $780 for Ward 7 holiday cards. She spent 100.77 per cent of her expenses budget.
