The Corporation of the
TOWN OF MILTON
Report To:
Committee of the Whole
From:
Linda Leeds, Director, Corporate Services and Treasurer
Date:
February 9, 2015
Report No:
CORS-007-15
Subject:
Confirmation of One-Third Tax Free Allowance for Councillors
Recommendation:
THAT Council approve the continuation of the one-third tax
free allowance for the 2014-2018 Term of Council.
REPORT
Background
The Municipal Act, 2001 provides Municipal Councils with the option of either receiving
one-third of their remuneration as a tax-free allowance or removing the tax-free
allowance, thus making their remuneration 100% taxable. Milton Council passed
resolution #586-02 on September 23, 2002, allowing members of Council to continue
the one-third tax free allowance. Under this provision, all previous Terms of Council
have retained the one-third tax free allowance.
Discussion
The one-third tax free allowance treats one-third of Councils’ remuneration as expenses
related to the execution of their duties and the remaining two-thirds of their
remuneration as taxable. As per the Municipal Act, the one-third tax free allowance
must be reviewed and approved at least once during each Term of Council. If Council
chooses to terminate the one-third tax free allowance it may do so by passing a
repealing By-law which would come into effect January 1 st of the year after the year in
which it was passed. Once a repealing By-law has been passed, there are no means
available to reinstate the allowance.
On March 24, 2014, Town of Milton Council approved report CORS-015-14, titled
“Council Compensation and Reimbursements Policy”. In this report, the Town’s thenappointed Council Compensation Committee provided recommendations to establish a
self-sustaining Council Compensation Policy to be used for future Councillors. One of
the recommendations provided was that the one-third tax free allowance continue for
the Mayor and Councillors for the 2014-2018 Term of Council. It was also noted in the
report that all of the comparator municipalities had indicated that they would also be
retaining the one-third tax free allowance for their 2014-2018 Term of Council.
Relationship to the Strategic Plan
The Corporation of the
TOWN OF MILTON
Report #:
CORS-007-15
Page 2 of 2
A responsible, cost effective and accountable local government
Financial Impact
There is no financial impact associated with this report.
Respectfully submitted,
Linda Leeds, CPA, CGA
Director, Corporate Services and Treasurer
For questions, please contact:
Janine Gallagher 905-878-7252 ext. 2146
Attachments
None
CAO Approval
William Mann, MCIP, RPP, OALA, CSLA, MCIF, RPF
Chief Administrative Officer