Hamilton councillors crack $100,000 club

Hamilton city councillors joined the $100,000 club last year.

In 2020, they were paid $100,486, up from $98,909 in 2019.

But with less ability to hold business meetings in restaurants and charity events to attend due to the COVID-19 pandemic, their personal expenses were dramatically down.

Last year, individual expenses (a total that doesn't include event tickets for guests, for instance) filed by Mayor Fred Eisenberger and 15 councillors amounted to $9,321 compared to $50,220 in 2019.

In 2020, Eisenberger's mayoral pay was $190,595, but he also made $41,250 on the board of Alectra Utilities, putting him over the $230,000 mark.

Coun. Brad Clark also earned $4,956 as an appointee of the Niagara Escarpment Commission and $814 with the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority board.

Coun. Brenda Johnson received $7,230 as chair of the conservation authority.

Coun. Sam Merulla earned less than others in 2020 - $98,554. An integrity commissioner probe into a heated dispute he had with a Kitchener fitness equipment retailer led to a dock in pay. He has rejected the commissioner's findings.

But he also received $19,500 and $3,000, respectively, for sitting on the boards of the Hamilton Enterprise Corporation and Hamilton Utilities Corporation.

Merulla, Chad Collins, Arlene VanderBeek and Terry Whitehead claimed no personal expenses for 2020.

Eisenberger was the biggest spender at $3,574. That included his individual expenses, but also those of guests at business meetings in local eateries before they were shuttered amid the pandemic.

The Big City Mayors' Caucus in Ottawa on Feb. 5 to 8 accounted for most of Eisenberger's claim, at $2,090.

Among councillors, Brenda Johnson's expenses were highest: $1,502 in mileage, including for trips in her expansive rural Glanbrook ward.

Tom Jackson was close with $1,441, which included business meetings and staff recognition celebrations in local eateries, and five community events, including a Valentine Day's dance, in his total.

Maureen Wilson, Nrinder Nann and John-Paul Danko each expensed $403 to host a free lecture in February by urban planner Joe Minicozzi on the cost of sprawl.

Teviah Moro is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach him via email: tmoro@thespec.com