Montreal’s mayor wants to freeze the salaries of elected officials for 2024, her office announced Thursday, after significantly increasing the amount earmarked for their salaries.
Published at 9:25 p.m.
The budget presented on Wednesday increases this budget item from 16.8 million to 18.6 million, but Valérie Plante announced on Thursday that she will propose to the municipal council not to touch these additional funds.
Municipal regulations stipulate that in normal times the salary of the mayor and local councilors is automatically based on the cost of living.
“There will be no automatic indexation of salaries for 2024,” predicts Ms. Plante’s office through her press secretary Marikym Gaudreault. “We want to remain in line with the current economic situation and the efforts required by the public administration and the population to rehabilitate the city’s finances. » This resolution must be approved by the local council.
“It is therefore inaccurate to talk about an 11% increase in the salaries of elected officials,” she added.
The information was first reported by Radio-Canada on Thursday.
For 2023, elected officials received a raise of 6.7%, or “the applicable indexation rate,” the city of Montreal said in a separate announcement. “In accordance with current regulations, the remuneration targeted by this indexation was adjusted on September 7, 2023, with retroactive effect to January 1, 2023.”
The Plante administration presented a $7 billion budget on Wednesday, with spending rising 3.4%. These will be funded by an average increase in the municipal housing tax of $227.