Municipal councillors in Richmond Co. have approved a pay raise to help offset a change to federal income tax regulations.
One-third of a municipal councillor’s stipend used to be tax-free to help cover some of the cost of travel, but federal officials have removed that exemption, so their take-home pay will be less.
Richmond Co. councillors voted in favour of topping up their stipend to cover the difference at January’s monthly meeting Monday night, retroactive to Jan. 1.
Jason MacLean, the warden of Richmond Co., tells The Hawk their decision came from guidance from reps with the Nova Scotia Federation of Municipalities.
“All municipalities just received a heads-up that this is happening,” he says. “There was a recommendation there from the NSFM just to basically say ‘This is kind of what we’re recommending, as a body, to the municipal units’.”
Councillors in the Town of Antigonish, Antigonish Co. and Inverness Co. all made the same decision, while councillors in the Municipality of the District of Guysborough voted against a pay increase.
Town councillors in Port Hawkesbury delayed their decision until budget deliberations.
