Sault Ste. Marie councillors voted Monday to look for ways to ensure all city employees receive competitive wages capable of attracting good candidates in an increasingly tight labour market.
"How do we properly compensate people in Sault Ste. Marie?" asked Mayor Matthew Shoemaker. "That's really what we should be considering."
"As a municipality, we are entering into what I dare say is probably 20 or so years of a tight labour market, as the bulk of baby boomers retire and there are not enough people to replace them by a significant margin," Shoemaker said.
"Without people immigrating to our community, or in-migration from within the province or within the country, we are going to have a significant labour shortage
"Being competitive in the labour market is one of the ways we can ensure that we get the right talent, as opposed to the next place that's going to be competing for that same person.
"So we have to properly and appropriately remunerate our employees," the mayor said.
Shoemaker said city hall offers good jobs, but in recent years the city has lost its competitive edge.
"Having a review... of all our non-union wage grids is something that I think warrants a deep review... because it's only going to get more difficult to recruit good people.
"When you've got good ones, you want to keep them. Getting them in the door is the first step," Shoemaker said.
What the city must now decide is whether to adopt the Ontario Living Wage Network (OLWN)'s minimum living wage of $19.80 cents an hour in northern Ontario, or to develop its own living wage.
As SooToday reported over the weekend, city staff are recommending against pursuing OLWN certification as a living wage employer.
Staff are opposed to turning over control of municipal wages to an independent third party that may change its pay calculations whenever it pleases and without notice.
Another issue to be decided is whether summer students need to earn a living wage.
Part-time students working for the city currently make as little as $15.60 an hour.
Ward 2 Coun. Lisa Vezeau-Allen argued that a student selling popcorn or chocolate bars at GFL Memorial Gardens is as valuable to the city as a trained lifeguard.