Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures: round salary increase for elected municipal officials in 2023

Unlike their counterparts in Quebec and Lévis, the seven elected municipal officials of Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures will receive, from the 1st January, a plump salary increase, the rate of which will be calculated on the basis of the galloping inflation of the last few months.

• Read also: The elected officials of Lévis will limit their salary increase to 2%

According to the regulations in force, « the basic remuneration [du maire et des six conseillers municipaux] is indexed according to the change in the average consumer price index for the previous year, taking as a basis the index established for all of Québec by Statistics Canada”.

The exact rate of the increase is not yet known, but it will probably be around 5%, agreed Mayor Sylvain Juneau.

“When a regulation is adopted, we have this nasty habit of trying to follow it. What is behind that is to maintain purchasing power,” he insisted.

According to him, “a few years ago, we already had salary increases of around only 1%. When the indexation is of this order, we apply it and we do not say that we must increase remuneration by 4% to achieve the same increases for municipal employees, ”said the mayor.

Everyone does what they want

The latter has carefully avoided commenting on the fact that the elected officials of the neighboring municipalities of Quebec and Lévis have instead chosen to limit their salary increases. In Lévis, the increase will be capped at 2%, while the precise figure for Quebec is not yet known.

“The neighbors do as they see fit, then I take care of my city. I have my boots full with my City and that’s enough for me, ”dropped Sylvain Juneau.

In Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures, Mayor Juneau’s current total compensation is around $121,000, i.e. a base compensation of $94,000, an expense allowance of $17,500 and compensation of nearly $10,000 from of the Metropolitan Community of Quebec.

The possible 5% increase would therefore increase his compensation to approximately $127,000.

In another vein, Mayor Juneau confirmed that the 2023 budget, which will be tabled in December, will provide for a tax freeze for Augustinians. Last year, during the election campaign, Mr. Juneau had committed to this freeze for the duration of the current mandate.