Amherstburg councillors are freezing their wages for the entire four-year council term.
However, the freeze comes after a 4-3 vote defeated a motion that would've seen a roughly $22,000 reduction in council salary costs.
Mayor Aldo DiCarlo voted in favour of the reduction.
"We're pushing a pretty aggressive budget and it seemed we could lead by example," says DiCarlo. "I think we probably could've went a little bit further than a simple freeze, not to say I'm not going to support the councillors who did vote for the freeze, but that's why I voted against [the wage freeze] but in favour of the cuts."
Councillor Diane Pouget felt the proposed reductions were too harsh, especially on younger members of council.
"Some of them have to book time off work and they're losing money and it's unfair to them and their families," says Pouget. "I'm retired and it's okay for me, but it's not for our young people and in order to get new people to come out and run for council, there has to be some type of compensation where they're not going to be hurting their families."
A councillor's wage in Amherstburg is just $15,900 a year.
The wage freeze decision will also deny expenses or per diem claims for councillors who decide to pay out of pocket for conferences or other events.
