*Updated: Councillor Corrine Rahman joins us to talk about a significant raise council is likely to approve tomorrow

London City Councillor salary could increase by over 35% Their overall budget might go from just under $5 million to almost $8 million - a 50% increase - and this number does not include the cost of City Staff who supports them, or the mayor’s budget as well. Right now a city councillor makes $67,420 per year and the mayor makes $163 thousand dollars and change. The task force is recommending a pretty substantial increase that would begin in 2027. Depending on their role, a councillor would be making between $94,000 to just over $100,000 at the beginning of next term and , in 2030, would top out at between $104,000 and $113,00. The mayor would be making $181,000 at that point too. London City Councillor Corrine Rahman voted against the task force recommendations and she’s joining us on this episode to tell us all about it. It's an age-old story. City Council’s in Ontario have had to decide their own wages and London is no exception. So, to say that this is an uncomfortable position to be in as a member of council is an understatement. It’s the third rail of municipal politics. It’s like being between a rock and a hard place while living in a fishbowl. Ironically, every member of council takes an oath of office at the beginning of their term - they promise to declare any fiduciary conflict of interest and they abstain from any vote that could benefit them monetarily - except for deciding their own pay. That’s what is happening now. A task force has studied London council’s work load and has come back with a series of recommendations. These include significant increases for council, beginning right after the next election as well as a potential increased budget to contract staff to do constituent work - that one has been referred to committee for review - and a severance package that would be available to them if they lost their seat in a future election. It was difficult to pull these numbers together and I could not find information that was readily available about the cost of benefit packages or the mayor’s expenses. Nor could I easily find information about the costs of staffing support provided to council by civic administration so I didn’t add in the costs associated with adding another assistant in the council office - which was another recommendation from the task force. This one has been referred to committee for review. Nevert-the-less, I’m confident the numbers I’m sharing with you are accurate and paint an apples to apples picture of the situation.