Amherstburg Town Council is unanimous. Compensation for all elected positions on the council will go up, but not for the current term.
"I could never in good conscience, you know, vote for a raise for yourself," said Councillor Don McArthur. "That's not what we're doing."
The increase will be hefty when the new council takes over in the fall of 2026.
Councillors hired ML Consulting to conduct a study of compensation in other Essex County communities and others in the province while keeping pay within the 65th percentile of councillors on councils of similar size.
Consultant Marianne Love looked at pay in Leamington, Essex, Kingsville, Tecumseh, LaSalle, Lakeshore, Bradford West Gwillimbury, Lincoln, Innisfill, New Tecumseh, St. Thomas, and Woodstock where pay ranges from $42,143 to $80,844 for mayor, $22,714 to $40,736 for deputy mayor, and for councillors, from $20,894 to $36,690.
Her report recommended a 27.5 per cent increase for the mayor from $47,754 to $60,880. Pay for the deputy mayor would go up 14.4 per cent from $31,783 to $36,349, while councillors would see their compensation rise from $29,455 to $25,229, a 16.7 per cent jump.
"If we want to attract good candidates to do this role for the community, I think we need to properly compensate them," said Deputy Mayor Chris Gibb."It's fair, and the fact that we're doing this two years ahead of time allows us to budget for it."
Mayor Micheal Prue agreed.
"Pay for the mayor has not increased since 2017," he noted. "Whoever ends up here in 2026 deserves a pay commensurate and equal to the one in Kingsville, LaSalle, and Leamington."
Love's report also recommended putting away $2,000 a year to cover subsequent compensation reviews, something she suggests at least once per term.
Members of the council will also collect compensation for additional meetings.