Despite protests from some at Monday's public meeting, the ad hoc committee on councillors' remuneration has indicated it will go to Orangeville Council with its recommendations for town council pay raises unchanged.

If passed by the current council, there will be pay hikes for the next administration when it takes office in December, 2010, of 31 per cent for the mayor and councillors and 17 per cent for the deputy mayor.

It translates, in dollar terms, to $42,000 for the mayor, $25,000 for the deputy mayor and $22,600 for each councillor.

The committee intends to present its final report to council at its November 16 meeting.

Council critic John Green labelled the proposed raises "a savage attack on the incomes of Orangeville families," describing the current mayor and council as having run on a platform of fiscal restraint and adding, "Fiscal restraint will not be voting themselves (the) increase."

The town's treasury department says that at current tax rates, the raises would add $3.89 to the tax bill for an Orangeville home assessed at $247,000.

In a draft report, the committee based its recommendations, in large part, on a survey of what it saw were "eight southern Ontario municipalities (that) appeared to exhibit similar functional characteristics as the Town of Orangeville for the conduct of a market survey" and had populations near Orangeville's roughly 29,000.

The same report contained the following findings:

• Orangeville has the smallest council, at seven members, including the mayor and deputy mayor.

• Mayor Rob Adams' salary is about $7,300 below the average of the mayors of the other municipalities surveyed.

• Deputy Mayor Warren Maycock's current salary is about $600 above average, and the Orangeville councillors' salaries are slightly above average. "However," the report said, "It should be noted that Orangeville has five councillors compared to others with seven to nine councillors."

The report also noted that, when the total cost of council salaries is considered on a percapita basis, Orangeville is lower than average in all cases.

There have been arguments that determining the the mayor's salary should involve taking into account the fact that the position is considered parttime.

"It's a moot point whether the mayor is full-time or parttime," committee chair Bob Long told the meeting. "A mayor has to do what a mayor has to do."

An online survey by town staff of current council members, and those from the preceding two council terms, concluded that the mayor's time spent on Town business ranged from 150 to 160 hours a month. Councillors reported they worked 30 to 100 hours per month, with the majority in the range of 70 to 90.

Mr. Green said he intends to "challenge the legality of the ad hoc committee," because it was appointed by council. "Appointing those who determine how much money they receive is neither open nor transparent."

(The Ontario Municipal Act requires a bylaw be passed to form any committee, and only a municipal council has authority to pass a bylaw.

When the council sought applications to serve on the committee there were only eight applicants for nine positions.) The committee wasn't the only supportive voice for the recommended increases. Ken Manwell, who served on the previous council from 2003 to 2006, said the raise was reasonable.

"It was an honour to be a council member," said Mr. Manwell, "but when I was on council, I spent 35 to 40 hours a week minimum. I would definitely support the increase, as would anybody who (has sat on council) before."

Mr. Manwell suggested consideration be made to increase number of councillors from five to seven to lessen the workload. "When I sat on council, I sat on six or seven committees and that was draining."

(The council had nine members until 1997, when the town had a population of about 21,600. And 50 years ago, when former mayor Victor Large was reeve and the town's population was about 4,600, the council had a mayor, reeve, deputy reeve and six councillors.)

Mr. Green, nevertheless, said it should be an honour and privilege to serve on council and, if a member finds it financially infeasible, he or she "should step down and say 'I can't afford to serve on council.'"

Mr. Long countered: "We don't want it to have to be that way."

"It appears council has been underpaid for a significant amount of time," said committee member Brian Wormington, adding that councils in the past have done "the popular thing" by not addressing pay raises and it has caught up with the present one.

The draft report also listed the budgets of other municipalities and raised a few puzzled eyebrows among those in attendance who read them.

For example, the report stated that the city of Stratford, with a population of 31,000, has an annual budget of $113 million. New Tecumseh, on the other hand, had a population of 28,800 and a budget of just $28 million.

Town resident Chris Thompson pointed out the disparity at Monday's meeting and suggested the committee clarify these budget amounts before it submits its final report to council.

In the case of Stratford, the budget figures reported were actually a combination of operating and capital budgets.

By comparison, Orangeville's reported budget of $20 million is based on the tax levy. The town's operating budget is approximately $28 million and the extra funding is from sources other than property taxes, such as grants and development charges.

Stratford's tax levy is $33.7 million, its operating budget about $40 million, and includes social spending which, in Orangeville's case, is handled at the county level.

The city's 2009 budget shows the cost of mayor and council at $309,775, compared to $211,000 for Orangeville.

Mr. Green and another pay-raise opponent, Don Kidd, used Monday's remuneration meeting as a forum to express their displeasure with the current council. Mr. Kidd said "most people today aren't getting raises, and I don't think this council has done that good a job." Mr. Green said the present council "should get a 30 per cent decrease."

At that point, Mr. Manwell rose and said: "Separate personalities from the role. If you don't like the council, there's an election coming up."