View - The Municipality of Lambton Shores

adjustments to the existing grid simply changes the grid it does not convey salary
increases to staff. It simply provides a framework within which Council can make
adjustments when it sees fit. So in essence this is a tool for Council.
Cost of Living Adjustments
It has been the practice in the industry to make adjustments to the salary grid to reflect
changes in the cost of living year to year. This is done to keep the grid as current and
relevant as possible to changing economic conditions. Again, cost of living adjustments
are discretionary and given the current economic climate in Ontario and Canada, there
has been a movement towards not permitting adjustments this year and possibly next.
That said the past practice has been to take a comprehensive approach whereby all of
the municipalities within Lambton County (including the County itself) adopt the same
approach, whatever that might be. Cost of Living adjustments are usually brought
forward to Council for consideration early in the new year when economic data for the
prior year has been determined.
Grid Adjustments
Band B – Management Team
The Consultant is proposing the creation of a “new” band between the current Band A
and B to bring this Band more in line with the marketplace. Approving this adjustment
does not translate into an automatic salary increase to anyone, it merely adjusts the grid
to bring the Lambton Shores grid more in line with the marketplace.
No adjustments are made to staff salaries in the grid until their annual performance
reviews take place, which in our case will likely take place in early March of 2013.
Usually provision is made in the budget to accommodate this change in the grid and the
potential that there may be increases recommended.
Band C – Chief Building Official
One of the objectives of the Market Review of Salaries was to assess the compensation
of the Chief Building Official. Some background history may be helpful here. At the time
of amalgamation an effort was made to rationalize what services the Municipality would
provide and what services would the County provide. Initially it was decided to allow the
County of Lambton to provide building inspection services in Lambton Shores; however
service delivery and the quality of that service delivery continued to be problematic. In
simple terms the County was not able to deliver the service to our satisfaction.
Consequently Council decided to hire our own Chief Building Official.
At the time we established a salary range for the Building Inspector it fell within the
existing grid, Band B (with the Department Head group) So the consultant was asked to
pay some attention to this issue in the Market Review. As a result, the consultant is
recommending that the Chief Building Official remain in Band C (formerly Band B) so
149