Watermain-gate: More On WUC Salaries

Great story by Monica Wolfson in the Star on WUC salaries and on meeting lengths. I wish she had added number of meetings so we could do a calculation of salary per minute in each of the years.

Take the shortest WUC meeting. If it was $500 payment for 6 minutes, that is the equivalent of a rate of $5,000 per hour. Why City outside lawyers should be furious since their hourly rates would be so tiny in comparison!

Interestingly, if one compares WUC when ex-Mayor Hurst was there and WUC under Eddie, Mike looks very good! See, I can say nice things about Mike when deserved. And Mike was never a "Young Entrepreneur of the Year" either.

When Hurst was around, meetings were considerably longer and they discussed important matters like watermain replacement including a report that formed the basis of the recent WUC consultant report. They also discussed budget amounts for replacement, alternative methods of making watermains last longer. They introduced a water levy and said it must be used for capital purposes only.

Under Eddie...well we will have to see what the investigation shows won't we!

Back in March, 2006, the Star reported:

• "It's a heck of a lot of money," said Coun. Joyce Zuk.
  
  As councillors' attendance at utilities meetings increased last year, so did their pay, Francis said. The annual salary for a city councillor reached $46,038 in 2005, compared to $37,437 the year before.
  
  The mayor and four city councillors receive $500 each for every meeting they attend as board members of Enwin Powerlines and Windsor Canada Utilities Ltd. They also get $250 each for every subcommittee meeting they attend. And WUC pays $8,200 annually to individual board members...
  
  Now that the work is done, some of the councillors will step down and the number of meetings will "go back to normal," according to Victoria Zuber, the utilities' chief financial officer...
  
  Zuk said councillors' salaries will drop this year because there won't be as many meetings to attend, now that the problems at the utilities have been resolved."

However, there is more to it than that as I was told. The WUC payments have an extra added benefit. They are pensionable:

• ----- Original Message -----
  From: Colucci, Onorio
  To: OJIBWAY NOW!
  Sent: Tuesday, July 17, 2007 2:25 PM
  Subject: RE: OMERS
  
  Please see below.
  
  Regards.
  
  Onorio Colucci
  
  -----Original Message-----
  From: OJIBWAY NOW! [mailto:arditti@sympatico.ca]
  Sent: July 17, 2007 1:32 PM
  To: Colucci, Onorio
  Subject: Re: OMERS
  
  I would appreciate a reply
  
  Ed Arditti
  
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: OJIBWAY NOW!
  To: Colucci, Onorio
  Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2007 9:40 AM
  Subject: OMERS
  
  Do Councillors and the Mayor pay into the OMERS Plan? [Colucci, Onorio] Yes Are their contributions based on their salary as a Council member alone or salary plus the fees they get from committees and boards as well [Colucci, Onorio] The councillors' contributions are based on the councillors' salaries plus the Board payments. The mayor's contributions are based on the City salary alone.
  
  Thanks for your co-operation
  
  Ed Arditti

Here is one more thought. The lowest number of minutes per meeting was in 2005. Isn't that the year Eddie said:

• "The Windsor Utilities Commission will have to justify any water rate increase this fall, Mayor Eddie Francis said Wednesday.
  
  "I pay for water and I want to know what we pay these rates for," Francis said at a meeting of the commission.
  
  "(The rates) have to be justified. We aren't going to stand by when they say 'We need this.' We are going to ask why."
  
  Francis said in an interview he believes water rates are too high...
  
  When the study is completed, Francis said he hopes it will show water rates can be decreased."

Can you really believe that remark in light of what has happened with the huge increases! If only the meetings had lasted a few minutes longer. Oh I forgot, 2005 was before the election.