Toronto city councillors have approved a recommendation to raise their own salaries by 24 percent.
Councillors voted 15 to 8 in favour of the increase that would see each member’s 2025 pay go up from the current $137,537 to $170,588, which includes base salary as well as bonuses, travel and car expenses, board and committee fees paid by the city, and other forms of financial remuneration.
An adjustment of 2.81 percent for inflation is included in this raise of over $33,000.
The pay raise, which will cost the city $956,816, is based on a report by the city’s People & Equity division produced with assistance from third-party adviser Korn Ferry.
The report indicated that Toronto city councillors receive the lowest compensation per constituent among 10 similar-sized Canadian cities. The other nine cities are Brampton, Calgary, Edmonton, Hamilton, Markham, Mississauga, Ottawa, Vaughan, and Winnipeg.
The increase would align Toronto councillors’ pay to the 75th percentile of the group of comparable cities. A percentile is a measure that divides the dataset into 100 equal parts. The 75th percentile means Toronto councillors will earn more than 75 percent of councillors in comparable municipalities.
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In 2024, city councillors in Calgary, for example, received $130,155, while those in Ottawa were paid $119,517. Mississauga members had the highest salary, receiving $173,117. The 2024 average was $146,109 for the 10 cities.
The authors of the study recognized the “unique demands” on Toronto city councillors, who they said oversee a “large number of constituents per Councillor” and manage “an operating and capital budget larger than some provinces.”
The report resulted from a motion adopted by Toronto city council in November 2024 requesting that the city manager and Chief People Officer conduct a review of councillor compensation and report back with recommendations at the March 2025 council meeting.
At the November meeting, it was also noted that a comparative report requested in 2019 was never brought forward. That request followed Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s decision in 2018 to reduce the number of municipal wards from 47 to 25, effectively doubling the number of constituents per councillor.
Toronto city councillors have not had a raise since 2006 except for annual adjustments for inflation, the report said. There were also three years during that period—2011, 2020, and 2021—when that inflationary increase was not applied.
It was in 2006 that council passed a bylaw requiring councillor compensation to align to the 75th percentile of the comparator market group, based on a third-party study recommending that benchmark.
But in 2014, the bylaw was rescinded in favour of yearly adjustments for inflation. Over the years, Toronto councillors’ compensation has fallen below the benchmark and market comparators. It is now sitting at 62 percent among the comparator cities.
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow, when asked at an unrelated news conference on March 25, said that “the recommendation in front of council is a bit steep given the economic times, but it’s really, totally up to the city councillors to make decisions.”
She said she’s “always” believed that it’s important for a third party to recommend salary increases for both councillors and mayors.
“I do know that the councillors are facing a lot of pressure also, so I think there will be robust and healthy debate at council,” said the mayor, who made $225,304.04 last year.
Councillor Anthony Peruzza, also at the news conference, added that there’s “never a good time” to decide on your own remuneration.
Toronto city council consists of 26 members, who include the mayor and 25 city councillors. Chow and two councillors were absent from the council’s vote on March 27.
