City staff are proposing to cut Council’s size from 13 to seven. Pictured: Welland City Council. Photo Credit: City of Welland.
Welland residents want fewer municipal politicians, a new survey shows. The view of the public aligns with the view of city staff, who made that very recommendation earlier this fall.
A total of 141 residents of Welland weighed in on Welland’s online platform for citizen engagement, with a clear majority saying they supported the idea, promoted by city staff, to cut the number of city councillors.
Sixty-one per cent of respondents said they wanted city Council’s size cut to somewhere between five and 10 members. City staff are proposing to cut Council’s size to seven.
Right now, every Welland ward has two councillors. The city also has a mayor. The recommendation from staff is to reduce the number of councillors from each ward down from two to one.
The change would have Welland taxpayers more than a quarter of a million dollars a year.
Much of this debate was triggered after councillors nearly doubled their salaries a few years ago. Welland has fewer than 60,000 residents, meaning there is a city councillor for roughly every 5,000 residents.
Welland has more councillors than nearby St. Catharines, which has more than double the population of Welland.
Council was originally set to consider staff’s recommendation to cut the size of Council on Nov. 26, but it was taken off the agenda after staff decided to do a public consultation before asking councillors to weigh in on the proposal.
Councillors will likely take the issue up shortly, now that the public has weighed in. However, there doesn’t need to be a decision made on council size for the next term until the end of 2025, with municipal elections scheduled for October 2026.
Should Council size be cut, it could set up a scenario in which multiple incumbent councillors are stuck running against their colleagues, as each ward would suddenly have just one seat on council instead of two.
Welland councillors are currently paid just over $28,000 per year.
Staff first began to consider options to reduce council size after Councillor Leo Van Vliet of Ward 2 asked staff in the spring to provide council with options to reduce costs for taxpayers by reducing the size of council.
At the time, the motion was seconded by Councillor Jamie Lee of Ward 6.
The motion to look into reducing the size of council was passed in the spring without opposition.
However, it remains to be seen whether councillors will change their tune now that staff are pitching a plan to cut half of their jobs.
Jay Goldberg is the Ontario Director at the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. He previously served as a policy fellow at the Munk School of Public Policy and Global Affairs. Jay holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Toronto.
