Longueuil Mayor Catherine Fournier is considering establishing salary ceilings for elected officials in her municipality to prevent councilors from earning more than her.
This is what happened last year, when Longuille municipal councilor Jonathan Tabarah received $202,313, or $25,000 more than his boss.
This made him the third highest paid municipal elected official in Quebec.
Mayor Fournier, for her part, received $188,759 for her duties.
“All this comes from the fact that the salaries of elected officials have been uncapped [par Québec] in 2017,” explains Ms. Fournier.
Her predecessor, Sylvie Parent, thus became the highest paid elected official in Quebec with a salary of nearly $250,000 in 2020, even ahead of Prime Minister François Legault.
Drop of $65,000
Faced with this absurdity, Catherine Fournier pledged during the 2021 electoral campaign to lower her salary as mayor. She reduced it by almost $65,000 once in office.
“I admit that at that time, we did not think that due to the accumulation of responsibilities, Jonathan’s salary could have exceeded my salary. It didn’t take six months for him to realize it,” explains Ms. Fournier.
Lots of responsibilities
The mayor recalls that Mr. Tabarah was the only member of his team to have already been a municipal councilor before 2021. He therefore inherited many responsibilities, both in the city, the agglomeration of Longueuil and in external authorities.
“It was quickly corrected when Jonathan noticed that the amounts could exceed my compensation. As of May 2022, he requested to no longer receive the remuneration linked to his function as deputy mayor and he gave up holding a position at the CMM [Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal]. »
If he had received all the salary associated with the position of deputy mayor, Jonathan Tabarah would have been the highest paid municipal elected official in Quebec in 2022.
Salary cap?
The fact that her right-hand man had to give up remuneration of her own accord prompted Mayor Fournier to begin thinking about a salary cap, as the cities of Montreal and Quebec are already doing, for example.
“Ideally, it would be better if it were fixed by regulation. We are currently studying possible scenarios to avoid this situation in the future. There is an analysis that will be made of the regulations in Montreal. »
For now, Catherine Fournier assures that the situation has been rectified and that she will be the highest paid elected official in her city in 2023.
“I can confirm that we have done our calculations and that it will be like that,” she swears.