Dieppe City Council voted to increase the salaries of the mayor and council in 2018 which will take effect in January.
The increases will be spread over the next six years.
Dieppe mayor Yvon Lapierre responded to criticism about being able to raise one’s own salary.
“It’s a difficult situation that councils are being put in. There is no legislation – nothing in place – to trigger any salary increases for elected officials at the municipal level.”
Lapierre says it’s easy to criticize but he says salaries in Dieppe haven’t been touched in 20 years.
He adds municipalities are now taking on a lot more responsibilities which are being downloaded from the federal and provincial governments.
The City of Dieppe did enjoy a good financial year in 2018.
Mayor Yvon Lapierre says it was actually much better than expected for a couple of reasons.
“The combination of the freeze the province put in place for 2018 and the growth we had particularly on the commercial side put us in a situation where we could leave taxes the way they are.”
Lapierre says the city had originally thought it would have to raise taxes over the next few years to cover the new intergenerational community complex.
Construction will begin in 2019 and the facility will feature two ice rinks, community rooms, a gym and a greenhouse along with an adjacent event space.
