New Brunswick·NewA union representative says municipalities across New Brunswick should be compensating their council members equally, especially given the increase in responsibilities after a slate of reforms took effect in 2023.Report shows Riverview councillors earn up to 24% less than average N.B. municipal salaryHope Edmond · CBC News · Posted: Sep 28, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 30 minutes agoRiverview mayor Andrew LeBlanc says pay bumps for town council members can help attract quality candidates. (Shane Magee/CBC)The Town of Riverview’s next group of councillors will be paid more, in the wake of a Sept. 22 vote by council members who are currently in power. Mayor Andrew LeBlanc says the vote in favour of a pay increase was not a matter of self-interest but was done with the goal of “attracting quality candidates to run in the election, to make sure that the positions themselves are compensated at the level they should be.”The pay increase comes after a committee made up of residents appointed by the mayor found that compensation for Riverview’s mayor and council members lag behind the market median – meaning they earn less money compared to half of those in similar positions throughout the province. The compensation committee, with support from JMC Consulting, looked at comparable municipalities. Its report showed Riverview’s mayor earns 24 per cent below the median, town councilors earn 19 per cent under it, and deputy mayors make nine per cent below the mark. Information Morning – Moncton8:41Pay raises proposed for Riverview’s next mayor and councillorsAndrew LeBlanc is the mayor of Riverview.The committee recommended that the current council act to bring salaries up to the market median gradually, by means of a two per cent increase every year for the next four years. That would bring the mayor’s annual salary from $45,642 to $56,632; the deputy mayor would go from $23,999 to $25,500; and pay for councillors would rise from $19,348 to $23,000.The pay increases won’t officially be approved until council holds a budgeting meeting and a by-law amendment is made.More responsibilities nowLeBlanc says pay increases are necessary because council members have been taking on more responsibility since municipal reform was introduced in 2023. That saw the number of local governments in New Brunswick reduced from 104 to 77, which has increased the number of residents that each municipality serves while lowering the number of elected officials overall. That means today’s councillors have a lot on their plate. A Union of Municipalities of New Brunswick news release issued earlier this year warned that there is an overall municipal infrastructure funding gap estimated at $200 million annually.”Certainly there’s a lot more work for councils to do now than there was, you know, even five years ago,” said Dan Murphy, executive director of the Union of Municipalities of New Brunswick. Murphy said salaries for council members often vary depending on the size of the community and the amount of services a municipality offers. However, he encourages municipalities to regularly review their salaries to see if they are still fair. Dan Murphy, executive director of the Union of Municipalities of New Brunswick, says municipal governments are taking on more responsibility in recent years. (Submitted by Dan Murphy)As an example of the workload, Murphy said the regional service commissions, which are made up of municipal council members, used to only be in charge of managing solid waste. Now members are also responsible for work in tourism, economic development and community development. He also said council members are working to address affordable housing and mental health and addictions because constituents are demanding attention be paid to those topics – even though all of those issues fall solely under the jurisdiction of the provincial government.”Being a local government official is a hard job,” Murphy said. “It’s almost full-time work, but it’s not paid like full-time work.””Being compensated fairly for time put in is important.”ABOUT THE AUTHORHope Edmond is a reporter based in Moncton.
Riverview town councillors to see pay raise after next year’s election
