North Bay council has voted itself a wage increase effective New Year’s Day. But support for hiking salaries wasn’t unanimous with four of the 11 members voting against the increase. The motion will also pay councillors for attending the agencies, boards and commission meetings. However councillor George Maroosis says the money they’ll collect at these meetings will go back into general coffers.
Maroosis says this could amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars in extra revenue for the city in the years ahead. The four councillors who voted against the increase were Mike Anthony, Mark King, Jeff Serran and Chris Mayne. Mayne suggested the increase take effect in three years when the next council was in place but that was rejected by the majority.