The City is clarifying inaccurate information published by local media today, July 28

In response to misinformation published as an editorial in the Telegraph-Journal, the City of Saint John would like to offer important and accurate facts to the community. This is being shared in accordance with what has been communicated to all municipal workgroups and members of Common Council. 

The City has a responsibility to uphold strong financial management and accountability and has made significant strides in strengthening its commitment to long-term financial sustainability for the community.

As it relates to the Wage Escalation Policy, an important driver in the City’s financial sustainability, the following applies.

All workgroups have been asked to make sacrifices to address our financial challenges and the City managers and professional staff are no exception.

The management and professional staff at the City of Saint John are taking a zero per cent pay raise for two years and thereafter, their wage increases will be in accordance with the Wage Escalation Policy. 

The management and professional staff saw a significant reduction in the size of their workforce in order to further contribute to addressing the sustainability challenges of the City.  

The management and professional staff have not received any sort of “in-lieu” compensation for the salary decisions and workforce reductions. 

The personnel reductions, combined with our desire to enhance and adjust our functions, led to a workforce restructure last year that has seen significant change to the roles and responsibilities of our managers. 

The City has therefore decided to complete a job evaluation review of all management and professional staff positions to ensure we know what their compensation should be based on their new responsibilities. This is to inform our future decision making. 

When this was briefed to Common Council on Monday evening, it was made clear that this review, in and of itself, would not demand changes to compensation. In fact, the report clearly stated that any adjustments to compensation will be based on our budgetary and sustainability requirements. 

The Wage Escalation Policy is a policy of Council and like all policies, it always applies to all workgroups regardless of any initiatives that are being pursued. 

The Wage Escalation Policy will remain in place for management and professional staff and the City has never implied or suggested otherwise.